Artificer
by Deiru Tamashi
Summary: I was just a regular human trying to live a semi-regular life. No devils, no angels, none of that. So why did the Student Council President see fit to make ME one of her Bishops! …Okay, maybe the fact I can use magic had something to do with it. SonaxOC. Rated M for future explicit material and violence. Please review!
1. Chapter 1: First Encounter

Author's Note: I do not own High School DxD or anything affiliated with it. The rights to it belong solely to their respective owners.

 **Hi, it's me again. This idea came to me for a couple of reasons, most notably tied to several really good books I've been reading that got my imagination firing. Hope you all enjoy it, and let me know what you think!**

Summary: I was just a regular human trying to live a semi-regular life. No devils, no angels, none of that. So why did the Student Council President see fit to make ME one of her Bishops?! …Okay, maybe the fact I can use magic had something to do with it.

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Artificer

Chapter 1: First Encounter

Issei Hyoudou was bored.

Usually, whenever he and the rest of the Occult Research Club went to some event together, it was exciting. Maybe the beach, a nice restaurant, or the swimming pool. In at least two of those scenarios, he'd get to see the girls of the peerage in some really hot swimwear.

But not this time. Nope. This time Rias had dragged him and the others along to watch the school's Rocket Club launch the model they had spent all semester building into the sky for some contest. The particular details of the contest escaped him—when Rias had explained it to him, he had been a little busy watching her breasts jiggle—but they had to appear to show support for the new club, or so Rias said. Not showing up would look bad on them.

Of course, one part no one had told him was that the rocket wasn't going to go off the moment they arrived. They had gotten here ten minutes ago, and the Rocket Club was still getting things ready, double-checking and triple-checking everything to make sure nothing went wrong with the launch.

Which lead to his present boredom.

"Man, when is this thing going to start anyway?" he complained, lying back in the bleachers that had been set up in the field so that everyone watching could have a seat.

Rias Gremory chuckled at her Pawn's lack of patience. "Now, now, Issei, this is an important event for this club. As a club ourselves, we have to show support. I told you this," she said kindly.

Issei groaned but, knowing that she was right, didn't offer any more protest.

Which worked out just well enough, as the redhead's attention was diverted the arrival of a certain other club. "Well, if it isn't the Student Council themselves. Fancy seeing you here," she said.

The President of the Student Council, publicly known as Sona Shitori, smirked and bowed. "But of course, Rias. I was the one who signed off on allowing the Rocket Club to form this year. If I didn't show up to its first big event, what kind of message would that send?" she pointed out.

Rias nodded in understanding, and the two clubs began talking as they waited. The Council's Vice-President, Tsubaki Shinra, was talking with Yuuto Kiba and trying her best to stay calm. Which was usually no problem, except that just being around the blonde 'prince' had her face resembling a tomato in color. Issei and his fellow Pawn Saji were trying to one-up each other in front of Asia once again. And the others were discussing any of several various topics.

The time left to launch passed quickly in this fashion, until finally there were only a few minutes left, and one member of the club stepped forward. Clearing his throat, he called "May I have everyone's attention, please?"

The students present stopped talking and looked towards the one who was speaking. He was a young man of average height, possessing a build that was slim yet not thin. His hair was the color of sea salt and arranged in a choppy pattern all over his head, as if he had cut it with a pair of dull scissors. His eyes were the color of lilacs and seemed to possess a spark of either genius… or insanity. And his outfit, consisting over a simple white lab coat over the male student uniform, completed the image.

"My name is Keijutsu Hatsume, and I would like to thank you all for coming to this event. As founder and President of Kuoh Academy's Rocketry Club, I speak on behalf of all of us when I say that we are grateful for your support. The fact that so many arrived today only serves as a boost to our confidence," he said, before smiling.

"But I doubt you all showed up just to hear me go on and on about how wonderful this occasion is. So, let's get right down to it." Keijutsu waved his hand at the student behind him, also all dressed in lab coats and uniforms, and were placing the rocket on its launch pad.

"The objectives for this contest, taking place nationwide, are simple. Each rocket must be designed to hold a payload of two regular eggs, and able to reach a height of at least four-hundred and fifty meters before descending. Points are given based on the height the rocket can obtain, how low the cost to assemble the rocket was, and how little damage is done to the payload during the launch, flight and landing. We are thirty seconds to launch, so I hope you enjoy."

Keijutsu bowed before returning to his team. Once he was close enough, his smile faded and he looked around. "Any last-minute delays needed?" he asked.

The other members of the club shook their heads. "No, sir. The payload is secure, the rocket is holding together, and everything is performing as expected," one of them said.

The young man nodded. "Very well, let's begin," he said. The club moved away from the platform and formed a line ten feet away from the rocket, with Keijutsu holding the trigger.

"And we have launch in five… four… three… two… one… Launch!" he called, and flipped the switched. Immediately flames burst from the end of the rocket and it soared upwards, leaving behind a trail of smoke as it climbed higher and higher into the clear sky.

Th students gathered all applauded and cheered, with even Issei saying "That is awesome! Did you see that? It just took off and flew away!" Saji was of a similar mind, watching as it kept going. "Man, how high is that thing going to go? It's getting harder to tell the higher up it shoots!"

Sona smiled at the two's enthusiasm. Take two hard-heads like them, and even they'll get excited over explosions. Boys will be boys. She noticed however, the while the Rocket Club had joined in on the applauding, their leader had not. Surprised, she looked closer and saw that Keijutsu was following the rocket with a critical eye. ' _He's waiting until after it lands to start cheering. Impressive_ ,' she thought.

Indeed, Keijutsu was looking at the rocket with unhindered intensity. As its flight continued, he frowned. Odd. Their model had only been designed to clear the 450-mark and go no further, the team having chosen to sacrifice extra points in height for making it as efficient and safe for the payload as possible. Yet it had already cleared that mark and was still going, even going past five-hundred meters.

Just as the rocket reached 550 meters—and he began to wonder who had made the miscalculation—the rocket stopped its ascent and began hurtling back downwards, picking up speed as it came closer.

Five hundred meters. This was it. Clear skies, no wind; this was the perfect day for them to launch, and he wanted there to be as little mistakes as possible. Four hundred. Even so, he couldn't help but envision all sorts of scenarios. Maybe the shock from the launch had already damaged the eggs before they even got off the ground. Three hundred meters. Maybe the padding they had put in to shield the eggs from the landing impact wasn't enough.

Two hundred. Wasn't the parachute supposed to deploy right then? One-hundred and fifty. ' _If that chute doesn't go off, our whole chance at winning the contest are scram-'_ he thought.

Before he could finish his rather horrible pun even in his head, the rocket reached a height of one-hundred meters and deployed its parachute, abruptly slowing down its descent. A few seconds, later, at fifty meters, a secondary chute deployed and slowed it down even further, until it finally landed on the ground near the edge of the field.

Quickly, he and the other members of the club rushed to grab it and check the payload. After several tense seconds, they were able to remove the two eggs and examine them. The first one was completely intact, not a break or blemish in sight, while the second… had a hairline fracture running along it.

Keijutsu cursed under his breath. Well, they certainly weren't getting any extra points. Both eggs had to remain completely intact, not just one of them. Still, it wasn't enough damage for the team to be disqualified, and perhaps the unintended points from the extra height would make up for it.

Behind them, the entire crowd was waiting in suspense, anxious to hear the final report. Knowing that, Keijutsu looked back… and gave them a thumbs-up.

The entire crowd burst into cheers, ecstatic at having witnessed the rocket work and the team succeed. Sona clapped along with the rest of them, thoroughly impressed with what had been done today. The team lined up and a couple of them held what was left of the rocket up for them to see.

"Once again, we'd like to thank you all for attending. If you are ever interested in joining, the Rocket Club meets after school in Class 2-C every Tuesday and Thursday. Have a splendid day!" Keijutsu announced. He and the rest of the team bowed, saying as one "Thank you!"

And with that, the crowd began to disperse, getting down from the bleachers and going their separate ways. Sona and Rias exchanged a few kind words with each before Rias left, taking the rest of the ORC with her. Sona, however, stayed put and watched the Rocket Club. They were all talking excitedly and patting each on the back, glad that an entire semester of work had finally paid off.

Eventually, the group began to break off as various members left, and Sona chose that moment to come closer. "Excuse me. Hatsume-san?" she said.

Keijutsu looked over at her and blinked in surprise. "Ah, Sona-kaichou. I'm surprised that you were able to make it to this event," he said, before smiling. "Pleasantly surprised, of course. So, what brings you here?"

Sona smiled slightly in return. "I was hoping to be able to speak with you. Preferably with a little more privacy," she said.

Curious, but not questioning why, Keijutsu bid farewell to the last of his club members and followed her, while the rest of the Student Council left as well.

Walking back towards the Main School Building, Sona said "I have to admit, the work you and your teammates did was impressive. Even I'm not someone who's capable of rocket science."

Keijutsu chuckled. "It's actually not that difficult once you understand the concepts. It's mainly just a matter of taking what you know and trying to apply it to the situation at hand. We knew we were capable of building a rocket that met the specifications, and so we did. I have faith in every member of my team to do their part in getting the job done," he explained.

Sona hummed in thought. Focused _and_ humble, two traits that did not appear together in many people. Deciding to see how far this sense of humility went, she said "Maybe so, that doesn't mean that you can't take any credit. You were their leader, and as such the lion's share of the work must have fallen to you."

Keijutsu waved his hand. "I did have extra duties, yes, such as coordinating everyone and ensuring that all materials were ready for each meeting. But beyond that, I can claim just as much credit for myself as everyone else. No more," he stated.

Sona had to resist staring. So this man truly was humble about his talents. That was a trait she could very much respect, and was not easy to find nowadays. Her curiosity was now even higher; she wanted to know much more about Keijutsu.

But alas, they had arrived in front of the Academy, and Keijutsu bowed. "Well, Sona-kaichou, it would seem that we part ways here. Have a good day," he said, before turning and walking away.

Not one that let her curiosity simply stew, she said "Wait." When Keijutsu looked back at her, she suddenly fumbled with what to say. How was she going to keep him close enough for her to examine without coming off as overbearing? However, almost as soon as she posed the question in her mind, the answer came to her.

"Actually, would you like for us to both eat somewhere. I'm famished, and I doubt you had much time to eat with all the preparations," she said. It was true. With all the work she had to do with the Student Council, she hadn't eaten since that morning.

Keijutsu considered the matter silently, before shrugging. "I don't see any harm in it. Lead the way, Kaichou," he replied.

Mentally cheering at her small victory, Sona lead him away from the school and to one of her favorite restaurants in town. It wasn't as large or flashy as some of the others, but was clean, had comfortable padded seats and a warm feel to it. Over the doorway was a simple wooden sign that read 'Sushi Shop'.

Upon being seated, the two were given a menu to browse and choose their orders. Keijutsu looked through and was not disappointed when many of the items revolved around raw fish in one form or another, befitting the restaurant's name. Eventually they were approached by a waiter, who pulled out a pen and pad. "Your orders?" he asked.

"I'll have an order of sashimi and rice with a small green tea," Sona said.

Keijutsu simply ordered the Shishito peppers and black tea with sugar. Once the waiter had left, her turned his attention to Sona. "So, Kaichou, is there anything you wish to speak about?" he asked politely.

Seeing the chance to uncover more of this enigma in front of her, Sona quickly asked "If you don't mind me asking, what sort of hobbies do you have? Are there any particular classes you enjoy? What dreams might you have for the future?" The questions were fired off with such speed that Keijutsu didn't have a chance to answer any of them, and he raised an eyebrow once she was done.

Sona felt a small rise of heat in her cheeks. This was not how she was supposed to act. Even if this boy had interested her, she was supposed to remain calm and collected. That was who she was.

Thankfully, Keijutsu didn't do any more than chuckle, and said "To answer your questions is order: My hobbies involve my club activities, learning new subjects, and building things. I enjoy chemistry, physics, psychology and mathematics. And my dream is to one day build a device that will bring all my knowledge together and truly benefit mankind, whatever that device may be."

He leaned forward. "Now, for a question of my own. Why would the illustrious President of Kuoh Academy's Student Council be interested in me?" he asked.

Sona bit her lip and wondered how to respond. As she thought about it, their food arrived and they ate in silence, with Keijutsu waiting patiently for an answer. Eventually, Sona decided to simply go with the truth, and said "I noticed that you have a mixture of intelligence, focus and humility, a mixture I rarely seen in other people, even other students. I wished to know more about you so that I might find the reason behind these traits."

Keijutsu considered this, before nodding. "I can understand that," he said, and the two of them resumed their meal. Once they were done, however, Keijutsu said "If you want to know more about me, Sona-kaichou, then why don't we simply play a game of chess?"

Sona blinked, looking at him questioningly. He reached into his bookbag and pulled out a small wooden chessboard folded in half, which he then opened and began pulling out the chess pieces. "In my experience, it is during a battle of wits that two people can learn the most about each other. What kind of thought processes they possess, the true level of their intelligence and, most importantly, what they will do in a pressurized situation. So, what do you say?" he asked.

The young woman stared at him. One declaration after another, and he continued to surprise her. But when it came a challenge, she was not one to let it pass by. "Very well, Hatsume-san. I accept your challenge," she said.

He grinned. "Splendid. And please, call me Kei," he said, before placing the last piece on the board. Sona was the white pieces and Keijutsu was the black pieces, meaning that Sona was allowed the first move.

As soon as Sona placed her fingers on the Pawn piece, she felt a jolt run through her. Looking up, she could see the kindness, the near-playfulness that had been in Kei's eyes up to this point was gone. In its place was an intense look of concentration, the same one he had worn when waiting to see if his rocket would crash and fail. And suddenly, she realized that Kei indeed meant every word he said. This game was a chance to learn your opponent's nature. For her… and for him.

Without even saying it, Keijutsu had shown that he was just as interested in her as she was in him.

Now understanding the stakes at hand, Sona began by moving one of her pawns forward. A standard move, one many would expect and that gave away nothing. Keijutsu responded with the same move, thus preventing her pawn from moving forward and forcing her to make another move. No matter. She moved her Bishop forward and to her left. Another standard move, though one that implied deeper meaning.

Keijutsu chose to go with another Pawn movement, though he chose the one on the far-right (to him) side of the board.

Not sure what to make of it, Sona continued with her plan and moved her Queen diagonally to the edge of the board. The strongest piece in the game, and her early movement of it suggested a fast-paced assault.

Only for Kei to raise his eyebrow again. "You should have guessed by now that I am not a beginner, Kaichou. The 4-Move Checkmate will not work on me," he stated, before moving his own Queen directly in front of his King.

Sona grunted. While Kei's quick deciphering of her plan meant that she would need to adjust her strategy, that was no real issue. And that fact he had been able to see it coming made things more fun for her. She pulled back her Queen in retreat, letting Keijutsu take the opportunity. Which he did, by moving one of his Knights in front of the space her Queen had previously occupied. Which meant that the Knight was now open to being captured, but the placement of his Queen meant that she would lose her own Queen if she did that. A taunt?

She copied the action with her own Knight, and Kei castled his King and Rook, causing them to both move one space closer to each other before switching places. So not a taunt after all, but preparation for a now-sturdier defense. Then she moved her Bishop forward and took the first Pawn he had moved.

Only to realize that she fallen into a trap, as Keijustu's Knight moved to capture her Bishop. Looking up again, she saw that the intense gaze was still there but now… Now it was sharing space with a glimmer of excitement. Keijutsu smiled, and Sona looked back at board. She smiled as well. Now, the true contest would begin.

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Sona could not remember the last time she had put this much effort into a chess match. No matter what move she seemed to make, Kei had been able to match and, if not counter her, then do something that would upend her carefully formulated plans and force her readjust. Her skill as a tactician was unrivaled, but is seemed that the enigma sitting across from her was able to take every move and reverse engineer it to factor into his own.

But now, here in the endgame, and Sona could feel her victory close at hand. She could see it in Keijutsu's expression, could see the frustration that he barely failed to keep hidden. By this point, the both of them were done to just a handful of pieces, the others having been lost in exchanges, sacrifices or on the rare occasion one of them would make a blunder. And if she were not so excited by the match so far, Sona might have noticed that she too was breaking her normally calm disposition.

As it was, she had the upper hand with her King and her Queen while Kei had a King, Knight and a Pawn. She moved her Queen to the side and captured the Pawn, calling "And that is checkmate, Hatsume-san."

Only for Kei to suddenly smirk. "It would be, Sona-kaichou, except…" he began, before using his Knight to capture her Queen. "When I can do that. And now, I declare a draw by insufficient material," he declared.

Sona stared. He was right. All she had left was her King, and Kei had his King and his Knight. There was no possible way for her to obtain a checkmate with just a King, just as he could not obtain one with just a King and a Knight. Thus, the match ended… in a draw.

Refraining from laughing at Sona's stunned expression, Keijutsu removed the pieces from the board and began putting them away. "Still, this was an excellent match, Sona-kaichou. By far the best that I have ever had. We'll have to do this again sometime," he said.

Sona absently nodded. "Yes, yes we will…" she said.

Kei chuckled and she looked up just in time to see that spark return to his eyes. The one that spoke of either intelligence or insanity. And true to the nature of that spark, he suddenly leaned forward and gently grasped Sona's hand, placing a light kiss on it. "Then, until next time," he said, before placing enough money for both their meal and the waiter's tip on the table and walking out.

Sona continued to stare, first at the exit to the shop, then at her hand. A flaming blush appeared on her cheeks and she looked to where the white-haired man had left.

Keijutsu Hatsume… just who the hell was he?

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 **And this is what I have so far of my latest plot idea. I rather like this idea and might expand on it in the future, but that will be after I have made progress on the stories I already have ongoing. Finals and writer's block have been the death of my creativity, but hopefully now I can get things going again. And should I continue this story, the pairing will be solely Sona/OC; no harems this time around.**

 **So, what do you guys think? Let me know whether this was a good start, a bad start, whatever you think. Just don't give me flames, as that helps no one. Please review!**


	2. Chapter 2: Intelligence Gathering

Author's Note: I do not own High School DxD or anything affiliated with it. The rights to it belong solely to their respective owners.

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 **Hello. So, here we are again. My mind had really latched onto this idea, and I find myself willing to at least see where it goes. Before we dive in, though, let us first have the replies to those who reviewed.**

 **Ibn: Thank you; I rather like this OC, Keijutsu.**

 **Frankieu: Oh, rest assured, I will be very creative when it comes to his inventions.**

 **Davycrockett100: Thank you for your kind words.**

 **Grimraven.V: Your welcome.**

 **And Evening Starz: Well, ask and ye shall receive.**

 **Let's get started.**

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Chapter 2: Intelligence Gathering

"As you can see, the two carbon atoms must share at total of three valence electrons each to form complete orbitals in this scenario. Hence, this type of bonding is referred to as a 'triple bond'," Sona's chemistry teacher said, drawing an image on the whiteboard of two letter C's connected by three short lines.

The glasses-wearing woman absently wrote down everything that was said word for word, despite having already read the section the night before. But even as the lecture continued, she couldn't bring herself to focus on it. For the past week, her thoughts had been entirely preoccupied with the one thing: the person who had managed to match her in a game of chess.

Keijutsu Hatsume.

After their meal and chess match together, Sona had spent all of what spare time she had gathering all she had been able to find on the young man. It turned out that he was not just the President of the Rocketry Club, but Vice-President of the Robotics Club, and a regular member of the Chemistry Club.

Whenever she approached any of the members of those clubs asking about him, their responses were invariably the same: that he was smart, helpful, and the only notable flaw being that he could become so passionate about a project that it would be difficult for the others to keep pace with him.

His academic file showed that he was in the same year as her, Rias, Akeno and Tsubaki. However, the classes he was taken in mathematics and physics were two-years ahead of that, and the only ones that he ever obtained less than a 90% in. By all standards, Keijutsu appeared to be a young genius, yet he had somehow escaped her notice until just a week ago.

When she had tried to find out how this could be, she found that, outside of the clubs he was in, almost no student was even aware that he existed. He didn't answer questions more often than any other student, he didn't have any fangirls like Kiba did, and no outside group of friends. And Sona didn't share any classes with him, so she would have never had a chance to meet him until the rocket launch. It was… odd.

"Shitori-san?"

Sona blinked, before looking up and seeing her teacher looking at her expectantly. Realizing that she had been asked something, she said "I'm sorry, but could you repeat the question?"

Looking at her in unabashed surprise—Sona was never one to not pay attention in class—he said, "I asked if you could tell me how many sigma and pi bonds are in a triple bond between carbon atoms."

Quickly recalling the information, she said "Two pi bonds and one sigma bond."

The teacher nodded, satisfied, and returned to the lecture while Sona tried her best to not become distracted again. Soon after, the bell rang, signaling the end of the day, and people began moving for the door. Some talked about where they would go now to hang out, others complained about the homework they were given, and more others began exchanging gossip.

Sona was putting away her things when she heard of voice, asking "Sona?" She looked up to see that it was Tsubaki, who was looking at her in concern. "Are you feeling okay? You've seemed distracted for the past few days, and just now you drifted off during class," she said.

' _Even Tsubaki is noticing it?_ ' she thought, before shaking her head. Of course she would. Not only was Tsubaki her assistant and Queen, but she was also her friend. Now that she thought about it, it would have been more of a surprise if she _hadn't_ noticed.

"It's nothing. I just have a lot on my mind," she said, before getting up and walking to the door. Behind her, Tsubaki frowned but didn't press the issue, guessing that if it was serious, it was still too sensitive of an issue to be discussed. And so, the two of them exited the classroom and entered the hall… only for Sona and someone else to walk right into each other.

"Ah!"

"Oof!"

The papers she was holding cascaded to the ground like an avalanche, the clipboard holding them bouncing on its edge a few times before landing. Sona herself nearly fell onto her back before she felt someone grab her arm and spin her around, abruptly reversing her momentum and causing her to fall against someone's chest instead of the floor. And she heard a very familiar voice say "Easy there."

Sona quickly looked up and saw a pair of lilac eyes, with a mess of salt-colored hair. Just the same person she had been thinking about. "Keijutsu," she said.

Keijutsu blinked. "Sona-kaichou? Are you alright?" he asked.

Sona nodded, but then became aware of the whispers surrounding them. Suddenly, she realized the image they made- herself leaning against Kei and looking up into his eyes, while he looked into hers with one hand still on her arm while another had wrapped around her midsection to keep her from falling.

Apparently, Kei also came to the same realization, and they both leaped away from the other as if they were made of fire. Kei coughed into his hand and willed the blush on his cheeks to fade away. "I'm exceedingly sorry for having knocked into you, Kaichou. Please, accept my apologies," he said.

Taking off her glasses to clean them, Sona said "No, I was the one who wasn't paying attention to their surroundings, so the fault lies with me. I'm sorry, Hatsume-san." Placing them back on, she saw that Keijutsu was wearing the same outfit as last time—a white lab coat over the male student uniform, though this time the black ribbon around the neck was replaced by a white tie.

Keijutsu smiled. "I said it last time: Please, just call me Kei, Sona-kaichou," he reminded her.

Sona smiled back. "Very well, Kei-san," she said, making Kei purse his lips.

But, realizing that was the best she was going to give him, Kei simply sighed and reached down to begin gathering the papers Sona had dropped. When she tried to stop her, he said "If you're not going to let me accept the blame for almost making you fall over, at least let me help you."

Not having a counter to that, Sona complied, and the two of them worked together to pick up the papers in short order. Once they were all gathered, Kei handed what he had picked up over to her. "Well, I should be going. Have a pleasant day, Kaichou," he said, before walking off. She watched him go with a smile. She felt herself glad to have bumped into him, even if it was in the literal sense.

"Sona?"

She looked behind her to see Tsubaki still there, though now she had her own look of surprise. For some reason, Sona did the sudden desire to not answer any questions she might have had, and continued walking. But her Queen followed, and asked "Who was that boy just now? It seemed as if you knew him."

Sona sighed. "He's someone I just recently met. He was part of the Rocketry event that we attended last week, and we exchanged a few words over a meal afterwards," she said shortly.

Tsubaki seemed to nod in understanding before suddenly freezing in place. When Sona looked back at her, she asked "Wait. You mean to say… you went on a _date?!_ "

Sona simply stared at her for a moment, floored. After a few seconds of silence, however, her brain rebooted and she about to refute it when she stopped. Was what had happened a date? She supposed, depending on how one viewed it, it _could_ be seen as such. Two young people meeting at a restaurant, spending time together, and enjoying themselves. But still, that didn't mean they had gone on a date, right?

Right?

Returning to the present, Sona looked at Tsubaki and said "I suppose it could have been" before resuming her walk. The two of them reached the Student Council Room and went inside, where Sona sat down at her desk. Placing the papers in her arms in the 'Finished' pile, she took a stack from the 'Unfinished' pile and began working.

But Tsubaki was not one to let something go unchecked, and said "It _could_ have been a date? That's not an answer. Was it a date or not?"

Sona huffed in irritation. "If you want a definitive answer, then no, it was not a date. We simply met at the Sushi Shop and sat down together to eat. Then we talked for a short while, played a game of chess, and then parted ways. Satisfied?" she said.

Tsubaki nodded, apparently content with that. But then something occurred to her. Even if she already could guess the answer, she still wanted to know. "Just one last question. Who won the chess match between you two?" she asked.

But at that, there was silence. Tsubaki waited patiently, but when no answer came, she looked at Sona. The heiress to the Sitri House wasn't working anymore, and was simply sitting there.

"Sona? Who won the match? It was you, right?" Tsubaki asked. When she still didn't get a response, her eyes widened. "No… Did you _lose_ the match to him?"

Sona whipped her head around. "No, I did not lose!" she said harshly, before looking forward. Eventually, she added "...It was a draw."

Tsubaki gasped, now fully understanding why Sona had been so worked up over this. Sona was someone that took great pride in her skills and the fact that no one had ever been able to outsmart her. Overpower her? Yes, there were plenty of devils strong enough to do that. Outwit her? Never.

What was more, she could still remember the story Sona told her about how, as a child, she had been engaged to another Devil in a marriage contract. But then Sona challenged her fiancé to a game of chess, with the stipulation that she would not resist being married if she lost, but the contract would be struck void if she won.

When her fiancé had accepted the challenge and lost—badly—Sona had declared that she would never marry someone who wasn't smarter than her. Other devils had since tried to beat Sona in chess, each one of them trying to obtain her hand in marriage. No one had ever come close.

But now this human, a fellow student at their school, had been able to match Sona at her own game. It wasn't a win, true, but in a way a draw was even more frustrating than a loss. At least then you knew where things stood, knew who was better and who was worse. But with a draw, it was still left up in the air. The only way to find out… would be to play the game again.

Coming to that conclusion, Tsubaki asked "Then why don't you challenge him to another match? And make sure that this one doesn't end in a draw?"

Sona nodded. "I have every intention of doing just that. However, after having played against Kei-san, I see that he's actually holding all the cards. He knows who I am: the President of the Student Council, the most intelligent student at the Academy, and someone whose popularity is only exceeded by Rias and Akeno. But I know almost nothing about him. So, before I play against him in chess once more, I need to learn more about him."

Tsubaki looked at her. "You're thinking of having him followed, like Rias did for Issei-san," she said.

"Yes. Knowledge is power, and only by doing that will I have the information I need to be able to make sure that I defeat him," Sona said.

Tsubaki nodded. "Then I'll station Tomoe and Ruruko on it right away," she said, before conjuring a magic circle and vanishing.

Sona sat there for a moment, and then started on her paperwork again. As she worked, however, she withheld a smirk. Careful planning, secret maneuvers, moves made before they even came face-to-face… This was a type of combat Sona had not experienced before. And yet she still found herself enjoying it.

* * *

 **The next day…**

Keijutsu sighed happily as he put away the last of the chairs used for the Robotics Club. He was usually one of the last to leave, and as such had the responsibility of leaving the room cleaned up enough for when the janitor came through. Not that he minded; it had to be done by someone, so why not him?

Once all the chairs were put away, he left the building and began making his way home. What to do once he arrived? Fix an early dinner and enjoy a night of relaxation? Work on one of his projects and eat later? Or eat early and then work on the project? Decisions, decisions…

As he crossed the bridge near the school, his thoughts turned to the young woman who had made a pleasant yet unexpected appearance in his life. Sona Shitori. It wasn't often that he found someone who was at his level of intellect, yet Sona appeared to be one such person, if not even smarter.

And as far as appearances went, she was no slouch there either. A slim build yet attractive figure, short black hair that seemed to shine depending on the light, and violet eyes that perfectly went with said hair and were complimented by her glasses. If he had any lesser amount of self-control, he might have been entranced by her looks alone.

But appearances were not the determining factor to someone like him. What mattered to him was the _mind_ , and he could confidently say that he had never encountered a mind like Sona Shitori's. He thoroughly looked forward to the next time he saw her.

In the trees off to his right, Tomoe Meguri closely watched Kei as he walked by. "So this is the guy Kaichou wanted us to follow, huh?" she asked. She was a pretty girl with shoulder-length reddish brown hair and swept bangs, as well as brown eyes. She was currently Sona's only Knight. Beside her was a younger girl with brown hair kept in long twin ponytails and green eyes. This was Ruruko Himura, one of Sona's Pawns alongside Reya and Saji.

Ruruko nodded. "That's him. Still, what is it that she wants to know? The guy's not even that good-looking," she commented.

Tomoe grinned. "You're only saying that because you already have eyes for Saji," she said.

Ruruko blushed deeply, but didn't try to deny it. "Is it that obvious?" she asked.

Tomoe giggled. "I think the only one among us who doesn't know is Saji himself. Better be careful though; I've seen Momo give him a few of the same looks that you give him," she warned.

The Pawn looked positively flabbergasted, but before she had a chance to respond, she noticed that Keijutsu had disappeared. "Huh? Where'd he go?!" she called, looking around. The both of them looked around until they spotted him already on the other side of the bridge, and walking along the side of the road almost out of sight. "Crap! We've got to keep up!" she said.

They quickly rushed after him while trying to appear as inconspicuous as possible. It was easy for Tomoe, as her enhanced speed made it so that she could almost blur from sight and appear not far away from Kei in no time flat. But for Ruruko she had to be stealthier, and that ate up time.

So focused were they in staying close that they didn't notice that Kei was leading them in circles around the same block. After he turned the fourth corner a second time and still noticed the two girls behind them, he raised an eyebrow. Two girls wearing the uniform of his school following him around? Well, he was going to put a stop to that.

Without making it look as though he had spotted them, Keijutsu raised his hand up and pulled back the sleeve of his lab coat, revealing a rather old-fashioned looking wrist watch with several buttons and knobs on the side. He pushed one button and waited a few seconds before turning the knob next to it, then pressed the same button again. With that done, he abruptly crossed the street and sped up his pace.

Ruruko and Tomoe cursed before increasing their speed to match, hiding behind mailboxes, the corners of shops, even behind street lights as they followed him.

Ten more minutes passed in this fashion, with the Knight and Pawn following Keijutsu as he walked down a seemingly random set of paths. Just as the girls were starting to suspect that Kei was onto them, he switched paths again and went down an alley between two apartment complexes. When they entered the same alleyway, he had vanished.

"He gave us the split again! Come on, Ruruko! We're not letting him get away!" she said, before running forward.

"Tomoe, wait! You're going too fast for me to keep up!" Ruruko called, but it was in vain, as the redhead had already left the alleyway. Tomoe looked around frantically for Kei, but saw no sign of him. Thinking quickly, she leaped into the air at such speed that it would appear as if she had vanished, and reappeared on top a nearby building.

Looking around, she tried to find Keijutsu's distinctive hair color amongst the crowd. After a few seconds, she found him, walking at a normal pace several blocks away. Not even pausing to wonder how he had gotten there so fast, Tomoe blurred from sight once more and sped through the streets until she was only a few meters behind him.

She followed him as Kei made a full circle around the block before going into another alley, only for him to vanish again. Tomoe groaned loudly. "For crying out loud, it's like this guy's _trying_ to shake off! What do you think, Ruruko?" she asked.

Silence.

"…Ruruko?" Tomoe said, looking around her. It was only then that she realized she had left her teammate behind, and swore. Quickly, she raced back to the same alleyway that Keijutsu had initially disappeared in.

To her horror, she saw Ruruko lying on the ground in heap, unmoving. "Ruroko!" she yelled, and ran forward before dropping to her knees in front of the Pawn. A quick check showed that she wasn't injured, and was in fact only unconscious. But that begged the next question: Who had knocked her out?

It was at that moment that Tomoe felt a piercing sensation in the back of her neck, as if she had just been punctured there. Immediately she felt herself become woozy, the world around her losing focus and turning into a fuzzy swirl of colors. Her body felt sluggish, but she just barely managed to turn around to try and catch a glimpse of her attacker. But all she saw was… a wasp?

Then her world went black.

The wasp hovered in the air as Tomoe fell forward, landing on top of Ruruko and forming a nice little heap. From above, Keijutsu dropped down and landed with a neat roll, preventing himself from breaking his knees on impact. Holding his hand out, the wasp flew forward and landed on his hand, though it did not sting him.

And upon closer inspection, the "wasp" was actually not a wasp at all. It was shaped exactly like a wasp, a _Megascolia procer_ , to be precise, but it's body was composed of copper and it had aluminum wings, while the stinger was made of steel and its eyes were glass.

Keijutsu turned his hand over and watched the wasp scuttle across it, completely docile in his presence. "Well, the knockout poison I developed seems to be a success. As I expected it would," he said to himself, before looking at the two unconscious girls. "A pity I can't take you two with me, as I'd prefer to know whether or not the poison lasts as long as I intended for it to. But, you can't always get what you want," he told them.

Careful not to step on them, Keijutsu passed by their bodies and left them lying there. Assuming the poison in one sting worked as designed, they'd wake up in about five minutes anyway. And when they woke up, they'd return to whoever sent them with news of their failure.

* * *

 **A few days later…**

Sona was finding her not-so-small amount of self-control pushed to the limit. After Ruruko and Tomoe reported back about how they had been knocked out by a _wasp_ of all thing while surveying Keijutsu, she had tasked other members of her peerage with the job instead. And every day, her servants encountered a similar lack of success.

Momo and Tsubasa had been the second group, and had actually managed to not lose him on the first two days. They revealed that he lived in an apartment complex near the edge of town, and seemed to be living with no one else. Which was consistent with his academic file, as it had him listed as an orphan. But on the third day, they had both turned up unconscious just like the first two had been.

Next were Reya and Saji, and they had almost met the same fate. But after Saji was knocked out, Reya was able to react quickly enough to avoid being stung by one of the mysterious wasps. She caught it and was about to examine it when the wasp suddenly blew itself up, destroying any evidence before it could be examined.

Nonetheless, the fact that all of them had been assaulted by a mysterious group of wasps could not be considered a coincidence. Perhaps if it had happened only once or twice, but not three times. Similarly, when she ordered Saji and Reya to search Keijutsu's apartment for any clues to his nature, they had just barely made it through the front door when they had been knocked out from behind, even though there hadn't been anyone behind them.

Now, she was no closer to find out anything about Keijutsu than she had been almost a week ago. It was infuriating.

Tsubaki was the latest person who had been tasked with following him, and she was being especially careful to avoid being spotted. She had been able to figure when he was making four-corner turns to check for followers, and had been able to not fall for it each time. She had also made sure to stay out of sight tokeep him from seeing her.

With all the effort that she had put into it, it had paid off. Keijutsu was none the wiser to her being followed.

Unfortunately, her surveillance didn't yield much new information. Every day after school, Keijutsu followed seemingly random paths throughout town that inevitably lead to his home. Then he would enter his apartment and not be seen again until next morning.

Today was her hope that this would change. She had stationed herself across from Kei's apartment all of last night and had was waiting for when he would leave school in the morning. When he did, that would be her chance to search his apartment unhindered, and to escape even if she was somehow ambushed.

It was now approaching dawn, and Tsubaki had to fight to keep herself from falling asleep. She hadn't slept at all, not wanting to risk a single chance of Keijutsu leaving while she was sawing logs.

' _I really hope this is worth it,_ ' she thought, hiding on top of the roof of the complex across the street from Keijutsu's.

It seemed luck was in her favor, as just then the door to the apartment opened and Keijutsu walked out, locking the door behind him. Then, without a backwards glance, he began walking to school.

Tsubaki grinned and waited until he was at least a block away before flying down to land in front of the door. A quick application of magic unlocked the door and she pushed it open with her foot, just in case there was some sort of trap. But when nothing happened, she went inside and shut the door behind her.

Inside Keijutsu's apartment, it seemed to be a strange combination of a workshop and living space. A brown leather couch flanked by wooden end tables with lamps sat against the white-colored wall, and adjacent to it was a black bookcase filled with books from encyclopedias to textbooks to notebooks. There was no television, but instead a wooden bench that had several tools scattered across it and… a pair of dolls?

Curious, Tsubaki came closer and saw that, yes, there were a pair of old-fashioned porcelain dolls lying on the table. One looked to be remarkably well-preserved and was designed to look like a little girl with red hair and a red dress. The other was of a man with a tuxedo, top hat and monocle, but was faded and cracked in several places, with the monocle missing.

"So… he works on dolls?" Tsubaki muttered aloud, before shrugging. Well, there was one fact to include in her report however strange. She looked around again and saw that the hallway leading out of the living room lead further into the apartment, so she continued in.

There was a modest kitchen that seemed to be immaculately cleaned, and a small room with a washer and dryer. The farthest room was, if she had to guess, Keijutsu's bedroom. A quick inspection of the kitchen showed nothing worthy of note, and she decided to return to living room to investigate further before going to the bedroom.

She checked the bookcase first, and saw that the books themselves were actually more diverse in subject than she thought. " _The Particle at the End of the Universe, The Future of the Mind, CNC for Industry_..." she read, before blinking. " _The Art of War?_ " She grabbed the book and pulled it off the shelf.

Opening it to the page that had been marked, she read "In warfare, subterfuge is your foundation, advantage your motivation, and circumstance determines your formation. Victory belongs to him who has mastered the combination of the devious and the direct."

The words eerily reminded her of current events. Sona was trying to use subterfuge and learn more about Keijutsu, and Keijutsu was able to avoid any of them without giving up his secrets. Most likely, the first one of them to make some sort of mistake would be the one to lose.

Putting the book back, Tsubaki looked around the living room further. There was nothing in the drawers of the end tables, and the notebooks would take too long for her to properly look through, given the fact that half the bookcase was filled with them. She was about to head to the bedroom when she noticed something out of the corner of her gaze. Looking back, she was filled with surprise.

The dolls on the workbench were gone.

Quickly approaching where they had been, Tsubaki tried to find them, but it was as if both of them had simply vanished. What was more, a pair of scissors and one of the knives was gone as well. Suddenly getting a bad feeling, Tsubaki began to head for the door when her instincts screamed at her to leap back.

Which she did, and not a moment too soon. The female doll flew through the air right where she had been, holding the missing scissors with both hands and closing them with a loud _snip_! Her instincts told her to move again, which let her avoid being stabbed in the side by the male doll, who was holding the knife.

Both dolls landed on the ground, and Tsubaki stared. Had those dolls really just tried to kill her? And more importantly, how were they moving in the first place?! But before she could try to figure that out, the two dolls stood back up and launched themselves at her once again, the female doll aiming for her neck while the male one went for her legs.

"What the hell is this!?" Tsubaki yelled, even as she summoned her naginata into existence and blocked both dolls. They pushed against her with a level of strength completely disproportionate to their sizes, but she pushed them away before swinging at the male doll. It sidestepped the blow and tried to run up her naginata, but she spun it and sent it flying away. The female doll flew at her, and she blocked its scissors.

However, then the doll yanked downward and pulled Tsubaki forward, disrupting her balance. Flipping over so that she would land on her back, she saw the male doll land on its feet and threw the knife at her. Tsubaki panicked and spread her out arms out, calling " **Mirror Alice**!"

Instantly, a large mirror appeared in front of her, which knife struck and was absorbed by. Then the mirror glowed and shot the knife back out at twice the speed it came in. The male doll couldn't react in time and was stabbed through the face, pinning it against the wall.

Satisfied that one of her strange enemies was taken care of, Tsubaki dismissed her Sacred Gear and focused on the female doll, which tried to cut the back of her knees. But she kicked it square in the chest and sent it flying back. The doll flipped over midair before landing on its feet and jumping towards her face.

She blocked it once again, but this time the blade of her naginata was caught between the blades of the scissors. And with a push from the doll, the scissors _cut through_ the metal of her weapon, shearing her blade in half.

Tsubaki was stunned. A doll, which was moving on its own and trying to kill her, had just used a pair of scissors and _cut her fucking blade in half_! What was this shit?!

But then the doll leaped over the stump of her naginata had tried to do the same to her face. Reacting faster than she thought possible, she called forth her Sacred Gear once more between her and the doll, and the blades of the scissors passed through the mirror, reemerging on either side of the doll's head. Not having noticed, the doll kept going and snapped the blades shut, severing its own head. The mirror faded away and the female doll dropped to the ground, scissors clattering against the wooden floor.

Tsubaki panted as she stared at the destroyed body. That was, over and far away, the strangest encounter she had ever faced, and all for trying to sneak into Keijutsu's apartment. Though, this did explain why Reya and Saji had been knocked out when they tried to get inside. If creatures like these dolls were just lying around inside, then something else could be here too. Maybe more of those wasps. ' _Still, I've spent enough time here as it is. I need to get out of this place and back to Sona. Now_ ,' she thought, preparing to simply use a magic circle and appear inside the Student Council room.

But just then, she heard a voice saying, "Care to tell me what you are doing inside my home?"

Tsubaki froze. Slowly, she turned around and saw Keijutsu standing there, arms crossed and wearing a very displeased expression. Dozens of possible responses passed through her mind, including not saying anything at all and simply using the magic circle immediately. But what came out of her mouth was "What are you doing here and not at school?"

Keijutsu raised an eyebrow, before gesturing at the door. "The moment someone passes through my doorway, their magical signature is scanned and, if it does not match mine, triggers a silent alarm. Now, answer my question: Why are you inside my home?" he asked.

It was at this point that Tsubaki decided that not answering was the best option. Worst came to worst, she could just use a Memory Alteration spell later to make him forget she had been here at all. With that in mind, a blue circle bearing the Sitri crest appeared beneath her, and she prepared to leave. Only for Keijutsu to snort and say "I don't think so," before snapping his fingers.

Instantly, the magic circle vanished from beneath her feet, and she could feel the hair on the back of her neck rise, as if she had been given a shock. Glaring at him, Tsubaki said "What did you just do?"

"Oh, nothing special. Just put up an anti-magic field over the entire apartment. You're not leaving until I get some answers. But first…" he replied, and waved his hand.

That was the only warning she got before she felt something blunt and heavy hit her in the back of the head. She fell forward, but managed to look back and see that it was the female doll, which was still moving despite being headless, and had in fact hit her with the body of the male doll. Her world went black, and the last thing she heard was Keijutsu saying "Let's take this into my office."

* * *

 **And there's the second chapter of Artificer, straight from the part of my brain that won't let this idea go. Maybe now it finally will. Either way, hope you enjoyed this chapter, and let me know what you (constructively) think.**

 **Please review! If you flame me then Bruce Lee will smash you with his nunchaku. (I'm just kidding… or am I?)**


	3. Chapter 3: Back and Forth

Author's Note: I do not own High School DxD or anything affiliated with it. The rights to it belong solely to their respective owners.

* * *

 **Well, now I know the answer to my previous question. Is my mind willing to let this story idea go? Apparently not. Still more ideas for it pour into my consciousness, taking creative energy that I had planned to apply to my other stories. But I don't suppose I can choose where my muse strikes, so, this is what happened. Either way, here's the latest chapter, along with review replies!**

 **ARSLOTHES: I'm not against the idea of adding Serafall to the pairing, but I wasn't planning on it either. I might do so if I get enough people asking for it.**

 **Squadpunk 2.0: You're on the right track.**

 **T-B-R: I'm glad you;re enjoying it.**

 **Phizzixcz, EveningStarz: Thank you for your kind words.**

 **Duked: You are right, Kei is more than just a magician. What that more is, however, you'll just have to find out.**

 **GodX: I do have something similar to that kind of magic planned, but that will not be for a while. Glad that you like the main pairing, though I'm on the fence about Koneko. Not because I don't like her (I do) but because I hadn't planned for her to have a major role in the series. Time will tell, however.**

 **AbaddontheDevourer: Yeah, I noticed that there weren't a lot of stories that possessed a characters with this set of abilities. Which is kind of disappointing, in my opinion, as I have no shortage of ideas for this. But I'm glad that you're enjoying it, and hope you continue to do so.**

 **Frankieu: Yeah, the wasps were kind of an on-the-spot thing. I needed something small, that stung, and that most people ignore. Then I got stung by one in real life, and it came together.**

 **Ibn: Really? Slapstick hadn't been my intention... *shrugs* but hey, it works. As for the dolls, yeah, I can;t tell you how many horror movies I've seen where peoples' dolls were moving for some reason.**

 **And xbox432: Yes, the title does hint as his capabilities, more of which will be seen in this chapter. As for what happens with Tsubaki, you're about to find out.**

 **And now, enjoy!**

* * *

Chapter 3: Back and Forth

When Tsubaki finally regained consciousness, the first thing she became aware of was the smell. A mixture of oil, sawdust and disinfectant, the smell punched right through her feeble attempts to hold onto sleep, and forced her to awaken. Which she did, yawning and reaching up to rub the sleep out of her eyes.

But when she tried to move, she found her arms restrained.

Snapping to full awareness, Tsubaki opened her eyes and looked around, seeing herself in an office of some sort. The walls were made of metal and covered by note boards, which in turn had various schematics pinned to them. There was a large wooden desk in front of her that was also covered with papers, and an empty chair.

Trying to move again, she looked down and saw that her arms and legs had been bound with some kind of strange liquid metal, which was wrapped around her limbs and the arms and legs of the chair that she was sitting in, keeping her pinned. Not only that, but when she tried to call on her magic to break free, she couldn't feel any of her energy rise up within her. As if her ability to cast magic was simply gone.

Tsubaki took a deep breath. Now was not the time to panic. If she remained calm, kept her cool and thought things through, she knew she could get out of here. First on the list of things to think about was one thing: How had she gotten here?"

Trying to think back, she recalled sneaking into Keijutsu's apartment to search for clues about his personality. She hadn't found anything truly out of the ordinary, until she had been about to leave and-

She gasped. The dolls. A pair of dolls on Keijutsu's workbench had, through some means, been able to come to life and attack her with a knife and scissors. For being so small, they had been unexpectedly strong opponents, and she had only managed to beat them by redirecting their own attacks back at them with her Sacred Gear.

Then, after she had beaten the strange monsters, Keijutsu himself had appeared and then… blank. Tsubaki grimaced. If was likely Keijutsu who had knocked her out, and it was in his office that she was now imprisoned. Not good.

As if in response to her thoughts, the door behind her swung open. She tried to look behind her for who it was, but she learned who when she heard Keijutsu's voice. "Well, it seems you've finally awakened. Good; I have several questions I wish for you to answer," he said, walking from behind her and taking a seat at the desk.

The two of them stared at each for several moments, neither one breaking the silence that had formed. Tsubaki glared at Keijutsu with all the anger she could muster, while Keijutsu looked to be nothing short of amused. Eventually, the glasses-wearing girl chose to speak first, asking "What is the stuff that I've been bound with?"

Keijutsu raised an eyebrow, not expecting that to be her first question. All the same, he decided to humor her. "What you're being bound with, my dear, is iron. In my experiments with different types of metals, I found that iron was the best at resisting the effects of magic and that, when attached to a person, it will cause said person to lose the ability to cast any type of magic until the iron is removed. Or course, the limit to how powerful the magic it can negate is unknown, as I've had anyone other than myself to test it on. Until now, that is," he explained.

Tsubaki was silent as she processed that. So not only was Keijutsu aware of the existence of magic—a fact she should have guessed from the dolls—but he also knew how defend against it. And that kind of knowledge was not something a regular human could find. So what was he? "Does that mean you're a devil? A fallen angel? Or something other being?" she asked.

Keijutsu frowned. "Seriously? A devil? Fallen angels? Don't try to insult my intelligence by pretending that such things are real," Keijutsu said, incredulous.

That response left her stunned. So, he could use magic, but was unaware of devils, or other aspects of the supernatural? How was such a thing possible? "Then what are you? Some sort of magician?" she questioned.

Keijutsu sighed. "Exactly which one of us is supposed to be asking the questions here? But to answer yours, yes, I am a magic-user, though I don't usually go by the title of 'magician'. Now, it's your turn to answer one of my questions. Who was it that sent you here?" he asked.

Tsubaki didn't reply, making Keijutsu frown fruther. "Really? I let you ask the first question, and you instead ask me three, all of which I've answered. Yet you refuse to return the favor," he said. When the Queen still didn't speak, he sighed and stood from his chair. "Very well. If you're not going to respond just from being asked, I'll have to be a little more… creative."

Not liking the sound of that at all, Tsubaki said "If anything happens to me, my Master will make sure that your life becomes a living hell."

Keijutsu scoffed. "If your Master were so powerful, they wouldn't have let you be weak enough to be captured," he said, before grabbing the back of Tsubaki's chair and dragging her out of the office, not even fazed by the weight of the iron on her.

Outside of the office was a huge cavernous room, which appeared to be built underground. The walls were all made of stone that looked natural but had been sculpted flat. And in two rows were over a dozen different tables, each of which had something going on at it.

At one table, a trio of what appeared to be humans made of metal were tinkering with the body of a metal dog. At another, there was an analog clock that ticked normally, except that it was glowing blue. Next to it, a modern crossbow rusted and fell apart in the span of seconds, before the hands on the clock switched direction and the crossbow put itself back together, good as new. Thirdly, at a table in the corner, a metal man was holding a doll similar to the ones that had attacked her, only not as detailed. The being held up the doll and ripped one of its arms off, but then dropped the doll as its own arm popped out of its socket.

Tsubaki was forced to refocus when she stopped moving, having been stationed in the center of the cavern. "Wait here," Keijutsu said, before leaving.

' _It's not as if I'm going anywhere_ ,' she thought bitterly, before looking around her. The metal humans—which she just now noticed had completely smooth faces without eyes, noses and mouths—seemed to look at her interest, before refocusing on their previous tasks. Hearing the sound of fluttering wings, she looked up and saw several creatures that resembled birds, except that they were just sticks of metal with canvas wings and a spike at the front.

Just what kinds of creatures were these? They all looked to be mechanical in origin, yet they moved as if they were alive. She had heard stories when she was younger of Shikigami familiars, but these didn't quite match the description. For one, there made of metal instead of paper, and seemed to be acting almost of their own will, something Shikigami didn't have.

"Admiring my ornithopters?" she heard, and saw that Keijutsu had returned. In his arms was length of chain made of shimmering green metal with a padlock. Lifting it up in front of her, he said "I call this invention of mine, for lack of a better name, the 'bindings of truth'. Once I place this around your neck, the spell woven into the chain will compel you to respond whenever I ask you a question. When you do, it will read the electrochemical signals in your brain to determine if you are lying. If you are, the chain will tighten in response. In short, you lie, and you choke."

Tsubaki's eyes widened and she struggled to break free, but it was no use. Even calling upon her Sacred Gear didn't work, likely due to the same iron restraints that were cutting her off from her magic. Taking care to avoid the chance of being bitten, Keijutsu carefully placed the chain around her neck and locked it. The chain flashed briefly before settling, and Keijutsu smirked at her.

"Now, it's time for some answers."

* * *

 **A few hours later…**

Tsubaki hesitantly opened the door to the Student Council room. Inside was Sona, who was quietly going over the latest report on how school funds would be allocated between clubs. Also sitting there was Saji, Momo and Tomoe, who appeared to just be hanging out.

Steeling herself for what was to come, she pushed the door open the rest of the way and walked inside. The others looked up at her, and Sona smiled. "Tsubaki, it's great to see you back. We hadn't heard from you since yesterday, and I was starting to worry," Sona said, making the Queen's inside twist further. Sona stilled cared for her so much, and had faith that she would success. Faith that was in vain.

Putting aside her paperwork, Sona leaned forward. "Well, let's hear it. What is the status of your mission to survey Keijutsu Hatsume?" she asked.

Tsubaki took a deep breath, before hanging her head. "I'm sorry to say that I failed my mission, Sona-kaichou," she said.

There was silence for several seconds, as the other members of the peerage stared with surprise. Even Tsubaki had failed? Sona's expression was unreadable, however, and she simply said "Explain."

"Yes, ma'am. I was following Keijutsu-san as you ordered, and had been able to make it to his apartment without detection. Once there, I staked the apartment out so that I would be able to investigate inside once Keijutsu left for school. The following morning, I had the chance to do just that, and waited until he was already several minutes away from the apartment before going in. However, from that moment onwards, everything is just… blank," Tsubaki told her.

"Blank? What the heck does mean?" Saji thought out loud.

Sona glared at him to be quite, and the Pawn cowered under the intensity of Sona's expression. But she wanted to know the same thing, and gestured for Tsubaki to continue.

"What I mean by that is that I know something happened when I tried to investigate the apartment. But whenever I tried to remember exactly what happened, the memories just don't surface. As if they were a file that's been deleted from my mind, leaving an empty space behind," Tsubaki said, hanging her head in shame.

There was another round of silence, before Sona finally sighed. "So it would seem that Kei-san is able to elude even you, my strongest Piece. If that's the case, then trying to gather any more information on him is an exercise in futility. We'll have to make do with what we have," she said.

Saji groaned. "Man, this sucks. We put all that effort into trying to keep an eye on that asshole, and then this! What are we going to do now?" he said.

Sona considered the question. She could possibly see about asking Rias for assistance, but decided not to. This conflict was between her and Kei; she wasn't about to bring her childhood rival and friend into the mix. Especially if Rias considered him exceptional enough to try and add Kei to her own peerage.

' _Not on my watch. If anyone is going to find make Kei their servant, it'll be me_ ,' she thought, before blinking. Was she really thinking of adding Kei to her peerage? Granted, she still had two Pawns, a Knight, a Rook and a Bishop to use, so she wasn't short on Evil Pieces. And having an intellect that rivaled her own would be a definite boon during future Rating Games. Two minds were always better than one.

But before she even arrived at that point, she needed to decide how to proceed in the here and now. Perhaps the best strategy would be to wait until Kei made a move on his own, and then she would be able to form a new plan based off of that. Not something she liked the idea of, but no other option present existed that would provide the level of subtlety this "game" of theirs required.

"Very well. From this point on, all surveillance of Kei-san is to be suspended. Continue with your duties and schoolwork as you normally would, and pass the message on to the others," Sona ordered. The rest of them nodded, and began to leave.

Tsubaki didn't move immediately though, and instead bowed. "Kaichou, I'm sorry that I failed. I-" she began, before Sona cut her off.

"There's no need to apologize. I should have foreseen that an opponent like this wasn't someone who would let himself be found out so easily. You should not feel at fault," Sona said.

Tsubaki looked like the wanted to argue, but eventually accepted her King's words and moved her normal place directly next to and behind Sona. Right where she should be.

* * *

Keijutsu sat back in his chair during Physics class, contemplating everything he had learned the previous day. That girl, Tsubaki, had provided a well of information once influenced by his chain, and now he had learned several interesting facts.

The first was that it was Sona who had sent her and the others to spy on him, and she ordered it in the hopes that learning more about him would give her an edge the next time they faced off in a game of chess. To think that the serious and stern young woman he had met would go so far as to actually spy on him to get an advantage. Though, after having extracted more information, he could see why that was so, and why the game meant so much to her.

Along with the fact that she wasn't actually Sona _Shitori_ at all, but Sona _Sitri_ , heiress to a powerful family of devils known as the House of Sitri. And that devils existed.

He was still having trouble with that part. He could accept the idea that magic was real—it was the reason he had been able to create his inventions in the first place—but for there to be such things as real-life devils, angels and all other supernatural beings? The entire idea sounded ridiculous to him.

However, he had never been one to dispute an idea just because of how it sounded. So, when he had asked Tsubaki for proof, she had unveiled her devil wings before him.

Nothing like visual proof to satisfy a skeptic.

This had also proved that Tsubaki herself was a devil. And so was, according to her, the rest of the entire Student Council. Together, they formed Sona's 'peerage', a group of devil servants at Sona's command and each bearing the title of one of the pieces of chess. When asked if Sona had any intention of making him one of her servants, Tsubaki had said that, if she did, she had not given any indication of it. It would seem that, for now at least, Sona was truly interested in simply settling the score.

Keijutsu smirked. Well, if settling the score was what she wanted, far be it from him to say 'no'. That didn't mean he was going to make it easy for her, however. After having gotten all the information he had wanted from Tsubaki, he had knocked her out again before using another of his devices to remove her memory of anything that happened to her within the previous several hours. Including the fact that she had successfully snuck into his apartment in the first place. Then he had one his constructs drop her off close to her home, and the rest was history.

Furthermore, it would seem that Sona had actually stopped having him followed. Now that he knew what to look for, he had discovered no people with devil energy following him when he left the apartment this morning. Though, when he tried to use the same method upon arriving at school, he had learned something else that was new to him.

Apparently, it wasn't just Sona and the Student Council that were attending the school and were devils. The other two most popular girls in school, Rias Gremory and Akeno Himejima, exhibited the same type of energy as Tsubaki, along with a couple of others. The 'Prince Charming' Yuuto Kiba, the new girl Asia Argento, the school's 'mascot' Koneko Toujou, and even the mega-pervert Issei Hyoudou.

So many devils, all in one location, and all concealing their true nature beneath everyone else's noses. How utterly fascinating.

Now that he had this knowledge, what should he do with it? Threatening to expose them was not an option. Not only was that sort of ham-handedness not his style, but no one would believe him even if he did. Nor did he feel the desire to confront Sona directly, not at this current stage in the game. So, he would have to confront her indirectly, create some sort of challenge that would occupy her attention and enable him to learn of her weaknesses, as she had tried to do with him.

Keijutsu grinned. He really was enjoying this.

* * *

 **Five days later…**

"Are you sure this is where it is?" Saji asked, looked decidedly spooked.

He and the rest of the peerage were standing in front of an abandoned warehouse at the edge of town. There had been reports of people, mostly the homeless, who had been wandering into the building and never coming out. Normally not something that they handled, instead leaving it for the local human police, but then the latest reports had included sighting of a strange monster.

Both events together indicated that a stray devil had taken up residence in the warehouse, and was devouring anyone who ventured inside. So, the Sona had called the Student Council together, and now they were going to take a look.

"Yes, this is where the reports indicate. If a stray devil is responsible for these disappearances, it's our job to get rid of it," Sona said.

The male Pawn groaned but didn't complain further, knowing that doing so when result in Sona 'disciplining' him. Momo and Ruruko grabbed either one of his arms and leaned closer. "Don't worry about it, Gen-chan. I'm sure that you can beat whatever's in there," Momo said, while Ruruko told him "And even if you have any trouble, I'm also here for you."

Both girls blinked before glaring at each other, sparks flying. Saji was trying to keep himself from blushing at the feeling of his arms being squished between their breasts, Momo's in particular. "Uh, yeah! No stray devil's going to be able to keep me down! Thanks, girls," he said nervously, causing both of them to stop glaring at smile up at him.

Sona chuckled at the spectacle before focusing on the task at hand. "Let's get this over with," she said, walking forward with the rest of her peerage following behind.

The entrance to the warehouse was boarded shut, but a quick application of water magic destroyed the boards and the door, allowing them to walk inside. The interior of the warehouse appeared to be empty, save for a set of catwalks near the ceiling. But there was no stray devil, something that put Sona on guard.

Slowly, they approached the center of the warehouse, and looked around. "We know that you're here, so come out," Sona ordered, hoping to draw the enemy out.

Nothing responded for a moment, before they heard a set of metallic groans and creaks as something jumped down from the catwalks above and landed in front of them. In the dim lighting, they could only make it that it had a shape that was roughly humanoid, except that it's head was smaller than a human's and it had a set of extra arms.

The unknown figure simply stood there, unmoving. This prompted Sona to step forward, asking "My name is Sona Sitri, heiress to House Sitri and younger sister of one of the Four Satans, Serafall Leviathan. Are you the one responsible for the disappearances taking place here?"

The figure said nothing and merely tilted its head, looking at her.

Sona frowned. "I'll ask again. Are you responsible for the disappearances?" she asked. When they still didn't speak, she raised on hand and conjured an orb of water. "If you refuse to answer, I will assume that you are responsible, and respond accordingly," she said.

Seeing the act of magic was apparently enough for the figure, and they raised one arm before letting out a screech that sounded like a buzzsaw cutting through steel. Suddenly, the power in the warehouse switched on, bathing everything in bright light. Their opponent was revealed to be some sort of metal golem, with a steel chest plate and a single "eye" occupying its otherwise smooth face, while each of its arms ended in either a hammer, a drill, a set of pincers or a metal hand.

The addition of the light also revealed almost a dozen other golems of the same type standing on the catwalks above, looking down at them. Sona's eyes widened, and she only had a chance to yell "Scatter!" before the golems attacked.

The one of front of her leaped forward and tried to pierce her with its drill-arm, only for her to fire her water orb at it and send it flying back from the impact. The other golems jumped down from the catwalks and cracked the cement floor on landing, totaling ten in number, before charging at the Student Council.

Rather than run, Saji held out his arm and called " **Absorption Line**!" In a flash of purple light, a gauntlet that took of the shape of a black deformed lizard appeared on his arm, which then shot out its tongue to wrap around the nearest golem. Once it did, the line glowed and began siphoning energy from it back to Saji, weakening it as he grew stronger.

The golem struggled and tried to break the line, but to no avail. However, another of them grabbed the line with its hand before slicing it with its pincers, freeing its comrade. Both of them charged at the Pawn, who swore and dove to side. Another swung its hammer at Tomoe, and she blocked it by conjuring her katana.

Tsubasa simply charged and ducked underneath a right hook from one of the golems. Once it missed, she responded with an uppercut enhanced by her Rook-level strength, denting its chest armor and sending it up into the air. A fifth one tried to swing at her with its hammer, but she held her arms up in an X to block it. The two of them pushed against each other and, to her surprise, the golem was able to keep up.

Momo frowned as she was forced to dodge over and over again. Since the golem was using purely physical attacks with no kind of magical energy, her Reverse magic was useless against it. Luckily, she still was able to use regular Devil magic, and so she conjured a wave of fire before unleashing it at the golem. It was enveloped by the flames, and she increased the heat to the point that the metal composing it began melting. But the golem kept going, and she was forced to continue moving back.

Reya faced similar difficulties, and tried to freeze one in a block of ice. She was successful for all of a few seconds, and then the golem broke free of the ice and chased after her. Before she could counterattack, it grabbed her by the arm and then slammed its hammer onto the same arm, breaking it at the elbow. Reya screamed in pain and tried to move away, but the golem refused to let go.

"Reya! Hold on!" Tsubaki called, running towards the golem from behind. She held up her repaired naginata and, coating the blade in a defensive barrier, swung downwards. The barrier kept the blade from shattering against the golem's armor and enabled her to slice off two of its arms, including the one holding Reya.

As for the tenth and final golem, Ruruko had engaged it in hand-to-hand combat, able to keep up despite her enemies having a twice as many arms as her to swing with. She batted aside a drill that tried to pierce her stomach and jumped up, wrapping her legs around the golem's head. Then, using her momentum, she swung around and forced it to lose it balanced, falling over while she landed on her feet.

The golem Sona attacked had managed to get back to its feet, but no sooner had it done so then she created an orb of water around it, trapping it inside. The golem struggled and tried to escape, but she condensed the sphere further and further. The metal composing the golem began to buckle under the pressure from the water, and Sona kept going.

However, while she was doing so, she did not see another of them approaching her from behind, rearing back its drill to pierce her in the spine. Saji saw it though, and yelled "Sona!" She stopped her spell and turned around, but by then the golem was already in front of her. It stabbed forward and aimed for her heart… when Saji was suddenly behind the golem, yanking it back with the tongue from his Sacred Gear.

As it came sailing towards him, Saji called "Since we're fighting, this would be considered enemy territory. So, **Promotion: Queen**!" A transparent image of a  Queen piece surrounded him before fading away, and Saji spun around. The golem was pulled along for the ride, going around in circles until he finally released it, slamming the golem into the wall hard enough to create a spider web of cracks in the stone.

Saji looked back at Sona and grinned, holding a thumbs-up! "I've got your back, Sona-kaichou!" he said, before being distracted as the other golem he was fighting engaged him again.

Sona looked at him in surprise, before smiling. "Thank you, Saji-san," she said, before refocusing on the golem she had been crushing. Its legs were now twisted up and unable to support its weight, leaving it flop around on the ground. Sona created four water whips to wrap around each of its arms, keeping it from attacking her as she approached. She used a fifth whip to rip off its chest armor, exposing the golem's insides.

There was a mass of wires, gears and other components, but that was not what caught her attention. What caught her attention was the center of its chest, wearing there appeared to be a ring of pure gold. Hovering in the center of that ring was a sphere of pure light, pulsing in a manner similar to that of a heartbeat.

' _This must be its energy source_ ,' she thought, before using her fifth water whip to rip the ring out of the golem's chest. The orb of light faded away the moment she did, and the golem went still, proving her theory correct. Looking back at the others, she yelled "Everyone, their power source is in the center of their chest, underneath the armor. Destroy the source and they'll go down!"

"Got it!" Tomoe called, shooting forward at high speed and swinging at one of the golems' chest. Her katana was unable to cut through the steel plating, but it did knock the golem off-balance enough that she was able to reach forward and try to remove the armor. It didn't work, and the golem kicked her in the stomach hard enough to send her to her knees.

Tsubasa did have the necessary strength to rip the armor off, however, which she quickly proceeded to do before grabbing the ring inside and yanking it out. The golem fell forward and landed heavily on the floor, creating a small cloud of dust. Two down, eight to go.

Saji used his Absorption Line again, but this time he directed the tongue to actually slide underneath the armor plating and wrap around the ring, where he proceeded to directly absorb the energy powering the golem. However, even after several seconds of continuously absorbing energy from the ring, the golem had still not run out of power, and sliced the line with its pincers again.

Ruruko covered her fists in demonic energy and unleashed a hailstorm of punches against her golem, aiming for the center of its armor over and over. Each punch weakened it until, with a shout, she punched right through it and broke the ring inside, destroying the power source. Now there were only seven golems, which turned to six when Tsubaki used the same barrier-coating technique as before to slice one of them in half vertically.

Now knowing that there was an energy source to target, Momo gathered her energy into an orb before firing at one of the golems. It hit the armor and some of the energy passed through it to hit the light in the middle of the ring. From there, the Reverse magic turned the light into darkness and, without light to empower it, the golem could no longer function. Five.

Reya switched tactics and hit the golem she was targeting with a wave of electricity. Although the golem wasn't initially fazed by it, after several seconds it began twitching as its circuits began to be overload. The shaking grew worse, and it ran towards her to stop it. But then its legs stopped responding normally and would move in random directions, while the light inside its ring began to fluctuate.

Eventually, with a high-pitched keen, the golem exploded in a blast that sent its pieces in all directions. One such piece was its drill, which flew end of end until it pierced the golem Tomoe was fighting through the side of its head, destroying its visual systems. With it now blinded, the golem was unable to react when she came close enough to carefully slice off the bindings holding its armor to its chest, and then she pulled the ring out. Three.

Saji wrapped his Absorption Line around his golem but, instead of trying to absorb all its power again, he tightened the line hard enough to crush the armor and the ring inside. Two. Tsubasa ripped arms off another golem and then punched right through its front, the ring and out its back, all in a single move. One.

And Sona created a pack of water-wolves that tore apart the last golem, sending wires and screws everywhere as it was literally mauled to shreds. Zero.

With the last golem gone, the fight was over. Sona glared at the remains of the last one, before looking towards her servants. "Is everyone alright?" she asked.

Tsubaki looked back at them. "A few cuts and bruises, and there's Reya's broken arm. But beyond that, we're fine," she reported.

Sona nodded. "Well, at least now we know the cause of the disappearances. These creatures must have attacked whoever came inside here, just as they did with us," she thought aloud.

Dismissing his Sacred Gear, Saji said "Yeah, but that still leaves a lot of questions unanswered. Like how these things even got here, who built them, or what they were intended for."

"Very true. But perhaps this," Sona said, holding up the golden ring she had extracted from the first golem, "Might be able to provide us with some answers. Either way, our work here is done. Let's go home." The rest of them had no problem with that, and Tsubaki transported them away with a large magic circle.

Unaware that, throughout the entire fight, a lone owl had been sitting up in rafters and watching the fight. Once the Student Council was gone, the owl spread its wings—revealing that its body was made of copper and aluminum. The owl cawed before flying out of the warehouse and into the night sky, ready to return to Keijutsu.

* * *

 **And this third chapter puts an end to that. I feel that know, with three chapters done, my muse has finally seen fit to let this idea go and allow to focus on my ongoing stories. Odds are that I will return to this at a later date, but for now I hope you guys enjoyed this.**

 **Please review! If you flame me then Bruce Lee will smash you with his nunchaku. (I'm just kidding… or am I?)**


	4. Chapter 4: Culmination

Author's Note: I do not own High School DxD or anything affiliated with it. The rights to it belong solely to their respective owners.

* * *

 **Here we are. It would seem that the more science-related novels I read over (which, during the family vacation I just took, was a** _ **lot**_ **) the more fired up my imagination gets in regards to this story. To that end, I've written this latest chapter of** **Artificer** **for all of you, and I hope you enjoy it. But first, the replies!**

 **TheUnknowUser2: Regarding doing a second pairing, I might end up doing it if I have enough of my readers who say they want it. Including you, there are three so far.**

 **ARSLOTHES: I had, actually, planned to give Keijutsu a Sacred Gear during the early ideas I had of this story. But the idea was later tossed out, and now I'm glad for that.**

 **Frankieu: Well, if you liked that fight, then you'll probably enjoy this chapter as well.**

 **EveningStarz: Trust me, I have no intention of abandoning this or any other of my stories. My muse is just a fickle creature, so I can't always write when I want to.**

 **KamenRiderAshita: Yeah, he did show a lot of restraint. More than I think I would have, in any case.**

 **Master DK: Well, you need not look any further for an update.**

 **And Acesnowlightning: Thank you for kind words.**

 **And now, let it begin.**

* * *

Chapter 4: Culmination

Sona hummed as she looked into the magnifying glass in one of the school's chemistry labs. The golden ring she had recovered from one of the golems was on the table beneath her, looking for all the world like just a simple band of metal. Yet this thing had somehow been able to not only keep an orb of pure light trapped within its center, but it was able to convert the light emitted by that orb into the energy needed for the golem to function.

"Find anything, Kaichou?"

Sona looked up from her magnifying glass, seeing Tsubaki standing there with a tray of tea. The young heiress shook her head. "Not much. Take a look at this, though," she said, waving her forward.

Tsubaki set down the try and came close, looking through the magnifying glass. Although initially not noticeable, she could see what looked like a series of markings etched into the ring's surface.

Sona explained "At first, I thought that these were just random scratches, ones that had been created from time and wear. But when you look closer…" she said, before producing a second magnifying glass. Placing it over the first one, the scratches were largened to show that they were, in fact, a series of arcane symbols.

"You get this. My knowledge of runic magic isn't very great, but I've been able to decipher phrases such as 'gather', 'conversion' and 'supply'. I believe that these runes are how the ring acts the way it does, weaving a spell that enables it to convert the solar energy from the light orbs into electricity with any other technology to help it," Sona said

Tsubaki frowned. She wasn't well-versed in runes either, and had always somewhat disregarded it since being skilled in the art required years of practice. Yet whoever had made these golems obviously had taken the time to learn, which was a problem. One that she vocalized by saying "The number of people who have a reputation for using runic magic in Japan, much less here in Kuoh, is practically zero."

"Exactly. Which means that the perpetrator either is not from here, or they are from here but have been able to keep their abilities under wraps until now. Neither of which gets us any closer to discovering their identity. And there's nothing in the runes themselves that gives a hint," Sona said.

"So… we've hit a dead end?"

Sona shook her head. "Not just yet. You have to remember, this ring is made out of solid gold, and the rest of the golems were also made of various types of metal. Gathering the materials for building them and being able to properly forge the pieces would require a significant amount of wealth. Not only that, but transporting all of those metal creatures without being noticed would be near impossible. So, we're looking for someone with a large income who lives either in or near Kuoh," she said.

Tsubaki thought about that. Despite the prestige that the town's academy had, Kuoh itself wasn't a town with a very high number of rich people. So, looking for one with an interest in magic or construction wouldn't be hard. "Since Rias is currently governing the city, I'll see about getting the needed paperwork from her," she said, before walking out.

Sona returned to her studies of the gold ring. If it had anymore secrets to divulge, she would find them. And once this mystery was solved, she could refocus on Keijutsu and her battle of wits with him.

* * *

 **The next day…**

No sooner had Sona begun to the metal ring and its runes again that the door to the lab burst open, and Saji rushed in. "Kaichou, we have an emergency! I just spotted another group of those weird metal guys at the edge of town. And they're heading for a couple of civilian apartments!" she said.

Sona's eyes widened, before narrowing as she assumed control of the situation. "Gather the rest of the Student Council and meet with me near the town's edge. I'll hold them off until you arrive," she ordered.

Saji nodded and rushed out of the room, while Sona conjured a magic circle to take her near the apartments. Her vision was briefly obscured by a flash of blue, and she had a sensation of weightlessness, before the light faded and she was behind one of the apartment buildings— Keijutsu's apartment, she idly noted.

She reached outwards with her senses and tried to find the energy signatures of the golems. She found them almost instantly, but this time they felt… strange. Different than the way they had before. Still, she knew where they were, and Sona rushed towards their location.

The golems were situated in a section of town that was under construction, near the abandoned warehouse from last time. A quick count showed that there were only six in total, though they also looked different from last time. The steel chest plate armor remained, but this time they each had only two arms, a pair of glass "eyes" to see with and metal hands with four fingers as opposed to the weapons they had before.

Sona hid behind one of the buildings as she thought of a plan. The idea of her running off first was to keep them from getting any closer to town until Saji and the others arrived so that they could destroy them. Bearing in mind, a preemptive attack would be the best option for her, as it would give her the element of surprise and also focus the golems' attention on her. But how to go about it?

Looking around, she could see several large barrels to use as cover, as well lumber from houses that had not finished being built yet. But what immediately caught her attention was a fire hydrant located along the path the golems were taking. Sona smirked. Perfect. A planning forming in her mind, she moved further out of sight and waited for the golems to move into the open.

A few minutes later, they did, walking into an intersection between two roads. The golem paused, likely trying to decide which route to take, when Sona struck.

A quick use of her water whips and she unscrewed the fire hydrant, causing water to gush forward and fill the street. Before the golems could react, the water moved to form two ten-foot waves. Sona emerged from her cover and brought her outstretched hands together, causing the two waves to crash into each other with the golems in the middle.

Although the move didn't destroy any of them, every one of them was knocked off their feet. While they were trying to get up, Sona willed the water still spouting from the hydrant to form a massive serpent. Said serpent shot down and bit one of the golems, picking it up and crushing it between its jaws.

The other golems raced towards the serpent, and Son expected it them to start punching and kicking it. What actually happened, however, took her for surprise. The remaining five golems reached out and their hands suddenly detached from their wrists, hanging by set of wires. From the hole where each of their wrists were, a metal whip shot forward and wrapped around the serpent. Then, rather than try and pull the beast down, the eyes of each golem flashed blue before their whips were enveloped in a light blue glow.

After only a few seconds, the serpent disintegrated back into just water and the sixth golem crashed onto the ground, its armor dented in several places and one of its arms ripped off. The other golems lowered their whips and looked towards Sona, the one responsible for the attack.

Cursing, Sona spread her arms out and began working her magic once more. The water around the golems took the shape of half a dozen bears, each of which released a very realistic roar before charging. The golems struck again with their whips, and just like before, the water constructs broke apart a few seconds after coming into contact with them.

' _Exactly how are they doing that? Are they disrupting the spells that hold the constructs together? Or is that glow from some sort of electrical attack?'_ she thought.

Whatever the method, it was evident that just sending out more water creatures wouldn't hold the golems back. With that mind, she gathered the water into a wall in front as well as two large fists, which she used to strike at the metal creatures.

She targeted the one that had been weakened and sent the fists at it over and over again, further denting its armor. Whenever one of the other golems tried to wrap one of its whips around with of the fists, she'd release control over the water composing it and then will it to reform. Eventually, she caused enough damaged to the first golem that, after changing one of the water fists into several whips of her own, she was able to rip its chest armor off.

To her further surprise, the interior of the golem was different from before as well. No longer was there a light-absorbing ring powering the being, but instead there was a transparent sphere, and hovering inside of it was what looked like a lotus flower made of metal. The flower was glowing ever so slightly, and when she tried to pull the sphere holding it out, it wouldn't budge.

The golem responded to the attempt to destroying it by charging forward, heading straight for the wall of water Sona had conjured in front of herself. It shot its remaining whip forward and failed to break through the wall, but it did activate the same effect from before to try and disrupt the spell holding it together.

Sona concentrated and put more energy into maintaining her defense. But while she was focused on her wall, the other golems targeted her two water fists and destroyed them. Then they joined in trying to take down her wall, hitting it with a total of eleven whips. Sona put forth all her strength into maintain her spell, but even it failed under the combined assault.

The water wall collapsed and the whips shot forward, wrapping around Sona's limbs and hoisting her into the air. She struggled and tried break free, but then the whips glowed blue again. And it was then that she realized that the golems hadn't been _disrupting_ her magic, but _draining_ it. The glow around the whips was from magic that they were leeching from each of her spells. Without any magic to hold them together, each of her spells had failed, and the blue color of the glow had come from the fact she was using water magic.

Now, she could feel her own strength begin to deplete as her own energy reserves were being stolen from her. When she tried to raise another wave to knock them to the ground, the water barely rose a few feet before falling back down. Sona tried rapidly to think of a way to escape, to continue fighting the golems until her peerage arrived.

But it was already getting harder to think. Her strength was rapidly approaching zero, and her vision was beginning to dim. She had to keep fighting. But… you know, a nap sounded really nice. Her eyelids were getting heavier… She could feel sleep calling for her…

"Sona-kaichou!"

The golems looked up at the shout to see several members of the Student Council leap from the buildings above, the closest one being Saji. "Let her go, you metal pricks!" he called, calling forth his **Absorption Line** and extending it as far as he was able.

He wrapped it around three of the golems and tightened it, causing them to crash together. And Tomoe channeled devil energy to both her legs and her katana, allowing her to shoot forward at high speed and slice right through the whips of one of golems, the same one that Sona had already damaged.

Seeing the danger of the sudden assault, the golems released Sona and focused on the rest of the peerage. One of them tried to extend its whips and trap Tsubasa, but she merely ripped them off herself before using them to pull the golem forward. It flew towards her and she punched forward. Its forward momentum combined with her strength enabled her to punch straight through its head, disabling it.

Ruruko tried attacking one up close, but it wrapped both of its whips around her waist and raised her into the air, where it started to drain her energy. Tomoe cut the lines with her blade, freeing her. Momo and Reya stood back to back-to-back and unleashed a wave of electricity. The golems tried to absorb it, but quickly became overload, with two of them simply exploding it twin bursts of flames and machinery.

Tsubaki flew forward and caught Sona as she fell, releasing her once they were on the ground. "Are you alright?" she asked.

Sona nodded. "Yes, though I probably wouldn't have been if you hadn't arrived then. Thank you," she said, dusting herself off. Once she was satisfied, she glared at the remaining golems and spread her devil wings. "And now, it's time for some payback."

Tsubaki smirked and nodded, summoning naginata. The two devils shot forward, with Sona creating a pair of water swords in her hands and four more surrounding her. Those four shot forward and struck against the injured golem, tearing into it and dealing the last bit of damage needed to deactivate it. Meanwhile, the Vice President blocked the whips from another golem before severing those whips, leaving it weaponless.

That made it easy for Ruruko to approach it and knock it to the ground, where she removed its chest armor and then pulled out the metal flower powering it.

Saji aimed his Sacred Gear at one of them, but it also fired it whips at the same time, causing the two attacks to wrap around each other. Both of them began draining energy from each other, but Saji was draining energy faster than the golem could. Thus, he was able to take all the energy from its power source and cause the golem to fall over, empty.

That was the last of them, and Saji smirked. "Take that, bucket-heads! No one messes with the Student Council and gets away with it!" he declared.

Sona smiled at her Pawn's enthusiasm, and approached the golem he had taken out. "Now, let's see if you have any secrets to divulge," she said.

However, no sooner was she a few steps away from the metal creation when she sensed a spike in energy coming from it, along with seeing all of the golems begin to flail around and release a high-pitched whine continued to rise in both volume and pitch, while the flailing grew more erratic. Realizing what was happening, Sona called "Everyone, get out of here!"

She and the others all spread their wings before taking to the skies. Behind them, the energy coming from the golems spiked once more, before every one of them exploded, causing the ground to shake from the combined shock of the blasts.

The smoke from the explosions also rose up to greet them, filling their lungs and causing their eyes to water. Several of them began coughing before Reya dispelled the cloud with a gust of wind. Tsubasa coughed once more to get rid any lingering traces, and asked "What was the point of that?"

Sona looked down to where the golems had been, seeing only several piles of melted metal and parts. "That was whoever built these things erasing the evidence. Now, we have no way to use anything from here to determine the person responsible," she explained. This was not good. Whoever was making these machines was trying to keep themselves further hidden than they already had. And they didn't have one of those metal flowers to examine, which could have been a big help.

With nothing else to be done, they had the Student Council's various familiars clean up what was left of the fight while the rest of them returned home.

* * *

Keijutsu smiled widely as he looked over the notes spread out on his desk. Behind him, a small stereo blasted out _Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture_ , but that was not what had him smiling. Rather, it was the data contained in the notes, data on Sona Sitri and her peerage.

High-level water magic. The ability to reflect attacks with double their original power. Siphoning energy from an enemy to replenish one's own reserves. And more.

The abilities demonstrated by Sona and her peerage, as well as by Tsubaki when she faced off against his dolls, were all compiled here. Already he could feel his mind buzzing with ideas. Thoughts on how to replicate these feats with his own inventions, or how to counter them. Half-done schematics flashing through his mental eye like a slideshow. Calculations for just how much time and resources would have to go into each experiment. And how starting any new projects might affect the ones he already had going.

This was what he lived for. Nothing brought him greater joy than taking something insubstantial—an idea—and giving that idea real physical form. With each new bit of knowledge he acquired, be it mundane or magical, the thoughts for an invention appeared in his head, a new avenue of thought for him to pursue.

From what he had read here, the applications of magic seemed to be even more limitless than he had previously suspected. He had already glimpsed the myriad application that magic could have during his work with runes, a necessary subject to study if he wanted to get his inventions to function properly. He also knew that the use of magic itself required the ability to imagine, and then to harness one's own inner energy to bring that imagination into reality. What form someone's energy took—holy, demonic, etc.—determined how that energy interacted with the outer world when used.

But now that he had seen some magic's myriad uses, he was faced with a startling realization: He had never really pushed the boundaries of what magic was capable of. Even more so, he had heard countless tales of what magic _was_ capable of. But he had never really found anything stating what magic _couldn't_ do.

The scale of someone's imagination could be virtually endless. So, it would follow that the capabilities of using magic were equally without limit. Yet he had never really tested what magic could do besides what was needed for his creations to work properly.

Keijutsu groaned. How had he missed something like that? An entire frontier of investigation, completely open for him to venture through, and he had been too focused on his own work to notice?

To him, that was unacceptable. Progress depended on trying to find your own limits, and that could only be done by trying to go beyond them. The entire future of his work might depend on what it was that he could or couldn't do with magic. He would need to perform a new series of experiments in this new subject.

The first experiment was now done, and he had performed it in hopes of trying to copy a use of magic he had already observed. Specifically, the **Absorption Line** he had seen Genshirou Saji perform. An extendable line that was able to wrap around an enemy before absorbing that enemy's energy? That should, in theory, before one of the easier feats to replicate.

Now, looking over the data he had acquired from the battle in the construction area, he could see that it would be more difficult than he thought. While the new batch of golems had been able to extend their whips as they wished, he had not witness any instance of the whips being retracted, which was also important.

Furthermore, readouts showed that the golems had only been able to absorb their targets _physical_ energy. That meant that their reserves of magical/spiritual energy had remained completely intact. Unlike when the actual **Absorption Line** was used, which drained any and all forms of energy the target possessed. Not to mention that the golems appeared unable to store what energy they absorbed, simply expelling what they took in as heat.

"It seems I'll have to conduct further trials," Keijutsu thought aloud. Luckily, such a thing was of little issue. It appeared Sona had taken a reactive stance in their "game", and would no longer try to move against him until he moved first. So, that gave him all the time he needed to prepare. And the Student council themselves were serving as perfect subjects for him to test on.

Behind the, the Overture reached its finale and ended with the sounds of cannons firing. Yes, this was shaping up to be fun.

* * *

 **Four weeks later…**

Sona looked over the papers Rias had given her, ones that offered all the public information she could obtain on each of the higher-income residents of Kuoh Town.

However, from what she had seen here, none of them were capable of building the metal creatures that had been plaguing her and her peerage for the past few weeks. Less than a handful of them had access to the kind of raw materials required, even fewer of them were affiliated with anything supernatural (the ones that were affiliated were clients of members of either her or Rias's peerages) and none were capable of using magic.

' _Just like Tsubaki feared. Another dead end_ ,' she thought.

And the latest sets of metal creatures hadn't made things any easier. Four more batches of them had attacked, with a new group appearing every week. Each group had sported the same set of energy-stealing whips as the first, only those same whips had become more… improved… with each attack. Which could only mean one thing: whoever was building them was still improving on their design with each "trial", making them progressively more dangerous and efficient.

The fact that the whips were similar in concept to Saji's **Absorption Line** had not escaped her notice either. So, this person had somehow been able to observe him use it at least once, and was now trying to replicate the ability. Sona took solace in the fact that, unless they possessed an intimate knowledge of the inner working of Sacred Gears, their unknown enemy would never be able to make perfect copy. And that kind of knowledge was something the Angels held onto tightly, despite the rumors of Azazel requesting otherwise.

But even if they remained unable to make a perfect copy, this person could still design replica **Absorption Lines** that were close enough to the original to be used in combat. And that idea—the idea of an army of metal monsters, each with their own replica Sacred Gears—terrified her more than anything.

Her focus was diverted from her inner thoughts by a knock on the door. Upon giving her permission to enter, the person responsible was none other than Rias Gremory. The redhead looked like she had seen better days, with dark bags under her eyes, her hair in disarray, and her uniform crumpled. Sona kept her surprise from showing on her face, and said "Rias, it's a pleasure to see you. What brought about this visit?"

Rias sighed and held up a stack of papers. "This is the latest information about anyone in Kuoh Town involved in supernatural activities. Tsubaki had mentioned that you might want to broaden your search for whoever it is that you're looking for, so I gathered the needed information for you," she said.

This time, Sona's surprise was visible. So, Tsubaki had already anticipated that she'd reach a dead end? And what's more, she had taken steps to help once she reached that point? ' _I'll have to remember to give her a vacation for this_ ,' she thought, before accepting the papers from Rias. Now that her childhood friend was even closer, she could see in full detail just how exhausted how she looked. And so, out of concern, she asked "If you don't mind me asking, is there something bothering you?"

When Rias was silent, Sona inquired further "Is it your plan to challenge Riser to a Rating Game?"

Reluctantly, the heiress to the Gremory House nodded and sat down. "I'm worried. I have every confidence in my peerage, even Issei and Asia, despite how new they are. And I've been coming up with strategy after strategy for how to beat him. B not a single one I can think has any substantial chance of winning. Riser just has too many advantages going for him—numbers, strength, his immortality, this list goes on," she told her.

Sona frowned. "Well, you did say from the start that it would be a longshot to win," she said, making Rias hang her head. But she continued "But that doesn't mean that you should give up. So long as the odds aren't zero, there is always the chance that you could win if you try. But if you _don't_ try, then the odds _will_ be zero. And I refuse to let you allow that to happen."

Rias looked up at her at that. She had always been one to show her emotions, and right now Sona could see the surprise in her eyes at hearing that. Slowly, that surprise turned to hope, and Rias nodded. "You're right. So long as there's a chance, I have to try, so that's what I'll do," she said confidently, standing up.

Sona smiled, glad to see her rival get her spirit back. Rias was about to leave when she apparently thought of something, and looked back at the papers she had given Sona. "By the way, I was wondering something. Exactly what is it that you're looking for with all this information?" she asked.

Sona paused. Mentally, she wondered whether or not to tell her. After a few seconds, however, she decided that it wouldn't hurt. "You're aware of that event several weeks ago about the stray devil? The one hiding in the warehouse?" she asked.

When Rias nodded, she continued "It turns out, the disappearance weren't being caused by a stray at all, but a group of living machines that had taken up residence there. We fought the machines and defeated them, but they were just the start. Since then, more and more of them have been showing up, and we've had to fight them week after week. To be honest, it's getting exhausting."

Looking again at the papers, Rias asked "And you think someone here in Kuoh is responsible?"

"Yes, I do. All of these creatures appeared to have been artificially built, either by one person or a group of people. And what's more, the tools and materials needed to construct, build and run these mechanical beings would be expensive. Especially for so many having been made in such a short time. So, I've been trying to see if there's anyone in town who could fit that profile, and who has some sort of connection to the supernatural."

Rias was silent, considering this. Any of the more wealthy citizens of Kuoh she could think didn't match the profile. However, a stray thought entering her mind let her to ask "What about that one student you were looking into? Geibuntu, or something like that?"

Sona blinked. "You mean Keijutsu? But he's not in any of the categories we've looked so far. No higher-income, no relation to the supernatural, not even a connection to building…" she said, before her eyes widened. A memory from their first conversation came back to her.

' _My dream is to one day build a device that will bring all my knowledge together and truly benefit mankind, whatever that device may be_.'

A dream of building. An unusually high level of intelligence. The failure of any of her servants of learn anything about him. Even more so, when they had been incapacitated by a set of strange wasps, and one of the wasps _exploded_ before being examined…

Just like the golems had started doing.

"It can't be…" Sona whispered, and Rias looked at her. "What was that? I couldn't hear you," she said.

But then Sona shot to her feet, calling "Tsubaki!" Her Queen quickly rushed into the room, and she asked "Where is Keijutsu right now? I need you and the others to find him. Immediately."

Although surprised, Tsubaki didn't question the order and simply said "At once, Kaichou," before leaving in a magic circle to gather the rest of the Student Council. Sona looked over at Rias, and bowed her head. "Sorry, Rias, but we'll have to continue this another time. I think Keijutsu might indeed be the one respon-"

She was interrupted by the sound of the door opening. Sona stared at the door, and when it opened she saw that it was none other than Keijutsu himself entering, grinning like a cat who had just caught the canary.

Both Sona and Rias were frozen in shock, staring at him. Until Rias jerked as she felt something pierce her neck, and then she fell forward. The culprit was a wasp, with a copper body and aluminum wings, who flew over to land on Keijutsu's shoulder.

Keijutsu smiled at Sona. "Sona-kaichou, I can't tell you how glad I am to see you," she said, before looking down at Rias's unconscious form. "A pleasure to see you too, Gremory-san. But I'm afraid this part involves only Sona and me. We can't have any unnecessary distractions."

By now, Sona was able to overcome her shock, and narrowed her eyes. "So, it was you. You're the only who behind all those machines, and they're how you were able to avoid being spied on by me," she said.

If anything, Keijutsu's smile grew wider. "Why don't we sit down and talk, Kaichou? I'm sure we have a lot to discuss," he said, taking the seat Rias had just occupied.

Sona nodded and waved her hand. Behind him, the door to her office swung shut and was covered by a glowing blue symbol, the crest of the Sitri family. Once that was done, she sat down at her desk and folded her hands together, staring firmly at Keijutsu. "Alright, then. Let's begin."

* * *

 **That's a wrap on this chapter. If and when the next one comes out, we'll see the culmination of this game between Sona and Keijutsu, and what it's end result will be. So, look forward to that!**

 **Please review! If you flame me then Bruce Lee will smash you with his nunchaku. (I'm just kidding… or am I?)**


	5. Chapter 5: Endgame

Author's Note: I do not own High School DxD or anything affiliated with it. The rights to it belong solely to their respective owners.

* * *

 **Well, here's the latest chapter for you all. I had a lot more fun with this one that usual, which is probably why it's out so soon after the last chapter. But before we get to it, the replies come first.**

 **Squadpunk 2.0: Definitely risky, yes. But there is a method to his madness.**

 **EveningStarz: I'm happy to hear that you like story and Keijutsu so much. And while I do still plan for him to be in a peerage, that doesn't mean I'll be restricting his potential by any means, rest assured.**

 **ARSLOTHES: Well, I'm now going to create a tally of the number of votes I've gotten for a second pairing with Serafall. If that number does reaches a high enough value (though I'm not telling what value) then I'll do it.**

 **Frankieu and Bloodredmoon22: Your welcome.**

 **Reade: Yeah, I intended for it to be a cliffhanger. But ask and ye shall receive.**

 **DePlexx: I noticed that there weren't a lot of Sona-focused stories either. Kind of odd, since I really like her character. But I'm glad that you feel the same way, and Keijutsu's powers will be given more exposure eventually.**

 **The unsung antihero: No, Keijutsu is not a Planeswalker, even if the idea is intriguing. And I'll admit to taking some elements—such as the design for the golem with hammer, drill, pincers and hand—from Magic the Gathering (Look up 'Steel Overseer' and see what I mean). But aside from a few individual models, I don't plan on basing this off that.**

 **And Saito90: A Keijutsu/Tsubaki pairing? Hmm… You're the first I think who's asked for that. But if other people ask for it too, it's not impossible.**

 **And now, we begin!**

* * *

Chapter 5: Endgame

For a long moment, neither of them spoke. Sona glared at Keijutsu with all the anger she could muster, while Keijutsu still wore that damnable smirk of his. It was obvious to her now that he was the one behind the incidents with the machines. All the strange events when she had tried to investigate him—and the fact that each attempt failed—made perfect sense when considering that he too could use magic.

But why? Humans using magic were uncommon, but not unheard of. But this kind of magic was something she had never encountered, even during all her studies. It only aggravated her more that she, of all people, had been stumped, and it was by the same person she was trying to intellectually beat.

Keijutsu leaned back in his seat, letting his mechanical wasp fly off to sit on the wall. "Like I said, you must have questions regarding me and what I've been doing. Go ahead. Ask away," he said.

Sona's eyes narrowed. All this time keeping himself hidden, and now he was willing to open up? Just like that? It was too good to be true. Still, she tried not to look a gift horse in the mouth, and asked the first thing that came to mind. "What kind of magic is it that you use? Are a magician, a warlock, or something else?" she asked.

Keijutsu chuckled. "Something else. While my practice involves blending several sources of magic, the closest singular phrase to what I do is 'Artifice'," he said.

She frowned. The name itself rung a bell, as if she actually had heard it once or twice during her first studies of magic. "Elaborate," she said.

"Gladly. Artifice is the use of magic as a supplement to, and even in some cases a substitute for, regular objects and technology. Rather than try to conjure up magic purely from within, Artificers find power in everything, from the simplest sword to the very elements and minerals beneath our feet. Everything in existence is capable of being used for magic, and thus Artifice centers around using objects to grant power."

"My own work, however, is slightly different. My version of Artifice involves taking the art's core principle—manipulation of magic through objects—and combing it with modern science and technology," Keijutsu explained.

That caused Sona to raise an eyebrow. "Combining magic and science? Isn't that the job of alchemists?" she asked.

Keijutsu grunted. "In some sense, yes. Alchemists focus specifically on finding a way to blend magic and chemistry to turn ordinary metals into precious ones or, more importantly, create an elixir of life. I extend my reach to _all_ of science—chemistry, physics, engineering, all of it—and seek to build marvels created by bringing the two fields together. Where magic fails to provide structure in my work, science lays out the path. And where science's capabilities fall short, magic provides the missing link."

Sona thought back to the golden ring she had obtained. "And that includes using runic magic?"

"Correct," he said. "Runic magic enables me to take a spell and formulate it using precise laws and procedures, ones that have to be adhered to in order for success. As you've no doubt noticed, my golems were remarkable feats of engineering. Mechanical foot soldiers that I could, given the resources, produce on a mass scale. But creating automated machines with their level of sophistication would have been impossible with science as it is currently understood. And that's why my Artifice works to combine it magic."

Sona was silent as she considered what she had been told. Given all that, Artifice suddenly seemed like a much more formidable form of magic than she had previously suspected. Even without magic, human ingenuity enabled mankind to investigate objects at the atomic scale, build massive buildings and structures of marvelous complexity in just a few months, and send messages from one end of the planet to the other at the speed of light. In just the last several decades, they even achieved the capacity for self-annihilation. But add magic to all that, and not even the sky was the limit.

She could also see just why, despite its capabilities, it had remained in such obscurity. Artifice required extensive knowledge of both magic _and_ science, and many magic-users disregarded the latter in the belief that their craft was superior, while many scientists didn't believe in magic at all. Plus, she could see that it took a mind capable of thinking in both the mystical and mundane to be truly skilled at the craft, something even more uncommon.

Which lead to the second of her questions. "How did you figure out that I was a Devil? Was it because of your skill at Artifice?" she asked.

"Ah, now that's a good one. To tell you the truth, it was your Vice-President, Tsubaki Shinra, who revealed that information to me," Keijutsu told her.

Sona blinked. "Tsubaki told you? When would she have…" she started, before trailing off as another one of the pieces fell into place. "When I sent her to search your apartment," she said, answering her own question.

"Correct again. Your servant was actually able to break into my home, but she hadn't considered that I might have additional security inside. I enjoy my privacy, and am _very_ unhappy when it is violated," he said, looking pointedly at her.

Sona at least had the decency to look guilty, even if they both knew she didn't regret her choice. "How did you get her to release any information? Not by choice, I'm sure," she said.

Keijutsu grinned. "Three for three, Kaichou. You're on fire," he said, causing Sona to glare at him. But rather than be intimidated, he merely laughed. "Rest assured, I didn't use torture or something like that; I save that for only when I'm truly infuriated. But I did use one of my inventions to coax the information out of her, and I wiped her memory once I had everything I needed."

' _And that explains why she returned from the trip unable to remember what happened_ ,' Sona thought, nodding. Now she had just two more questions. "And what about the attacks from all the mechanical monsters? What was your reason behind those?"

"Well, the first attack was because I was simply curious about what it was that you Devils were capable of, and decided to put you and the Student Council to the test. But once I saw the myriad things you and the others can do, I was struck by an epiphany. Science itself is continually progressing, uncovering more and more of the inner workings of reality and how to apply its findings as time marches on."

"But ever since the time of the ancients, magic has seen little, if any, progress as an art. I found this to be odd, since there are so many different ways magic can be used, and almost no investigation into its limits. So now, I want to learn just what it is that magic is and isn't capable of doing. To that end, I started with something simple: copying a use of magic I had already witnessed," he explained.

Sona frowned. "You mean Saji's **Absorption Line**?" she asked.

He nodded, although he looked disappointed. "Indeed. Over the past four weeks, I've been assembling golem after golem that is capable of using a whip-like appendage to drain a target of its energy, just like Genshirou-san is able to. Every week I improved the design from what it was before, and every time I did I sent them after you and the Council in order to perform a field test. But even after almost a month of testing and innovating, I still can't replicate an **Absorption Line** that performs as effectively as the original. It's disheartening, really."

Sona smiled. "Well, I'm not surprised. It makes since that you wouldn't be able to use your Artifice to copy the **Absorption Line** when it isn't even magic in the first place. It's a Sacred Gear," she said.

Keijutsu raised an eyebrow. "Sacred Gear? Tsubaki didn't mention that term when I was questioning her."

"Probably because you didn't ask," Sona countered, making him bow his head as he conceded the point. "In any case, Sacred Gears are also called 'God's Artifacts'. As the name suggests, they are items created by the Biblical God to acts as part of his miracles on Earth. They can only be naturally obtained by humans, who are given the power at birth, and many who had them went on to be influential figures throughout human history," she told him.

"And since the **Absorption Line** is one of them, it draws its power not from magic, but from God himself. And that's why my attempts to replicate it have failed thus far," Keijutsu thought aloud. That was… interesting. It would seem that he had yet another subject for him to explore. Though, that would have to wait until later. "Do you have any other questions, Sona-kaichou?"

Sona nodded. "Just one more. Why are you being so charitable with this information? You've done well so far to keep me from learning anything. Why the change?" she asked.

Keijutsu sat up. "And there we arrive at the purpose of my visit. After learning from Tsubaki that everything you were doing—having me followed, spying on me, breaking into my home—was just so that you could get an edge and beat me in chess, I came to a decision. Just as you were trying to learn more about me, I would learn more about you.

"I extracted everything that Tsubaki knew about you from her. And since then I've been using the data from every conflict you've had with my inventions to learn more. Your likes, your dislikes, your hobbies, everything that makes you 'you'. And now, with everything I've gathered thus far, I believe I have everything I need to secure a win."

And with that, he reached into his bookbag and pulled out… a chessboard.

Sona's eyes widened, and she looked at him. He grinned. "We've both done everything we can to gain an edge on another, and have been playing cloak-and-dagger for weeks. Now, I believe the time has come for us to finish our game and decide a final winner. Don't you agree?"

She thought about it. Even with all the information she had just obtained and even with all the doors and windows locked to prevent him from escaping, there was no proof that she'd be able to uncover any more information about Keijutsu. If she wanted to win, she would need to do so with what she had. Still, Keijutsu was obviously holding more cards than her, and she hated the idea of fighting when she knew she was at a disadvantage.

Seeing her reluctance, Keijutsu said "And just to make sure that you agreed to this, I've decided to up the stakes and make a bet, if you're willing."

Sona raised an eyebrow. "And what exactly would we be betting?" she questioned.

"It's simple, really. Whoever wins this match with be able to make one request, one simple request, and the loser will be obligated to fulfill that request to the best of their abilities," he said.

She stared at him. "That's it? One request, whatever the winner wants, no strings attached?"

"Exactly. It doesn't matter what the request is; whoever loses this chess match will have to fulfill it. That's the offer I'm making if you'll agree to play, right here and now," he replied.

Silence enveloped them once more, and Keijutsu waited while Sona mulled it over. If she won—and she had every intention of winning—then she could literally ask Keijutsu for anything. All of his inventions up to that point, every bit of knowledge he had obtained about herself and the rest of Student Council. Heck, she could even ask him to become part of her peerage.

But if she agreed to it, and Keijutsu was the winner, then the same applied. He could ask anything of her, and she would be bound to obey. It was a blank check for either of them, which was why it would raise the stakes—the only limit to what they could win was their imagination. "And I'm guessing you've already decided what you're going to ask for?"

"And that's four in a row. I have decided, but I'm not telling you. Not until after we've played the game," he said.

Sona slowly nodded. "Very well, Kei-san. You have a deal," she declared.

"Splendid. Then let's get this underway," he said, and opened up the chess board to take out the pieces.

Once they were all in place, he gestured for her to make the first move, just like last time. She did by moving her leftmost Pawn two spaces forward, and act which Keijutsu copied with his own. Sona then moved her right Knight two spaces forward and one to the left.

Keijutsu moved the Pawn in front of his King one space forward, and asked "Would you like to hear one of the reasons I love chess, besides what I said before our first match?"

Sona shrugged, and moved the Pawn in front of her Queen one piece forward.

He responded by moving his king-side Bishop forward and to his right, placing her King in check. "I love it because it is virtually impossible to win by brute mental force. Claude Shannon, the father of information theory, once postulated that the number of possible 40-move games is equal to 10 to the power of 120, greater than the number of hydrogen atoms in the observable universe. Estimates of the number of 'sensible' games are _much_ lower than that, but it highlights the fact that one has to be able to adapt in chess, because simulating every possible game is greater than any human mind can process." he explained.

"I see. Fascinating," Sona said, and moved a Pawn forward to block his Bishop. He moved it back in front of his Queen and its accompanying Pawn, letting her take the initiative. Sona smiled. Now, she could start her attack.

* * *

 **Forty-five minutes later…**

Both Sona and Keijutsu could feel it. After playing for almost an hour, there were only a handful of moves that each of them could do. Sona possessed four Pawns remaining while Keijutsu had one Pawn and both Rooks. One of each of their Pawns was facing each other, resulting in a deadlock there, while Keijutsu's King was in one corner next to one of his Rooks. Sona's King was nearby, just out of range of either piece but ensuring he couldn't move neither.

There had been several occasions during the game in which they could have gone for a draw, but neither of them would accept that. Not this time. The match would end with one winner, and one loser. The stakes at hand, as well as their pride, would demand no less.

Keijutsu moved his Pawn forward and promoted it to a Queen, placing Sona in check. She pursed her lips and moved her King out of the way, though that let him capture one of her Pawns. In return, she captured the Queen with another of her Pawns, equalizing the exchange.

Sona looked at him with a smile. "Well, Kei-san, this has been, without doubt, the best game I've ever played. No matter the outcome, I have to congratulate you on that," she stated.

Keijustu moved one of his Rooks closer to her King. "I'm happy to hear that, Sona-kaichou, and I want you to know that I feel the same way."

Sona moved her King closer to said Rook, leaving them diagonal from each other. Keijutsu placed his other Rook directly in front of her King, though she couldn't capture it without putting herself in check. Instead, she moved her King to the side. But then Deiru moved his other Rook back to the same row as her King, trapping her. "And with that, I have checkmate."

Sona stared. He was right. She couldn't move to either side since she would still be in check, and if she moved forward or diagonally, the same would still happen due to his other Rook. She had lost.

Sona fell back in her chair. Over and over, her mind played that one phrase. ' _I have lost. I have lost._ I _have_ lost _._ '

Behind them both, the seal over the door dissipated, and the Student Council wasted no time in bursting in. "Kaichou! We came here as soon as Tsubaki called and-" Saji began, but froze when he saw Sona's shell-shocked state. Noticing Keijutsu and putting two and two together, he quickly turned red with anger. "You bastard! What the hell did you do to her?!" he demanded.

Keijutsu didn't respond, which only further aggravated him. Before he could attack, Momo placed a hand on his shoulder. "Gen-kun, calm down. Look at the desk," she said solemnly.

Saji blinked in confusion but did as she advised. And when he did, he saw the checkmate. His eyes grew huge. "No way… That's not possible," he whispered.

Tsubaki nodded. "It is. Keijutsu-san beat our master at her own game," she said. The rest of the peerage were also flabbergasted, completely unable to process the idea that their King had lost.

Keijutsu was silent as he picked up the pieces of the game and put them away, before leaning forward and placing his arms on the desk. "Well, Sona-kaichou, that's that. As per our agreement, now that I have won, I get to make one request of you," he said.

Sona slowly nodded, hanging her head in shame. "Yes, I suppose so. What is it that you want?"

"Well, the ironic thing is that my one request… has three parts to it," he said.

Sona shot her head up. "You never said we could-"

"I never said we couldn't do that, either. Now, are you still going to hear my request, or are you going to break your own word?" he countered, smirking.

That crushed whatever argument she had been about to form, and only added to her sense of defeat. "Fine. Name all three parts," she said.

"Gladly. The first part of my request is that, in the future, neither you, your peerage, or any other member of Devil society will interfere will any experiments I conduct, so long as they don't endanger the civilian populace."

Sona mulled that over. It could have been worse. She nodded.

"Secondly, I want access to all the knowledge and natural resources held by the Sitri family to use at my leisure so long as I do not bankrupt your House."

Sona paled at that. Even if he added that contingency, there was still no telling how much of her family's wealth he could burn through. Even now, she could already imagine the shame she'd feel when her family's resources took a nosedive, and she'd have to explain to her parents as to why. But the die was already cast, and she had no choice to agree. "Very well."

"And the final part to my request…" Keijutsu deliberately paused, allowing the suspense to build. Slowly, he leaned forward and, once he was close enough, whispered his request.

"I want to join your peerage."

This time, Sona whipped her head upwards so quickly she almost got whiplash. "WHAT?!" she shouted, a shout echoed by her entire peerage.

Keijutsu laughed loudly. Okay, that was too good. He rarely tried to make himself laugh, but their shocked expressions were hilarious. He stood up. "Oh, come on, Kaichou. I may be ruthless, but I'm not heartless. I knew walking in that you might want me as part of your peerage, and to be honest, the idea of becoming a Devil intrigues me. There are so many experiments that I can perform during a normal human lifespan. And while being a Devil can have its disadvantages, an extended lifespan is definitely an attractive prospect."

He looked down at her. "Plus, I don't see why I can't let you have some sort of consolation victory, considering all the fun you made me have during this entire back-and-forth of ours. So, I'm giving you what you, at least partially, wanted."

Sona looked at him for a good, long moment, trying to see if he was playing any tricks. When she saw that he wasn't, she smiled. Not her usual small smiles or superior smirks, but a true smile, one that spoke to how happy she was. "That is something I can certainly do."

Keijutsu nodded. "Then let's get on with it," he said, and walked towards the center of the room. The rest of the Student Council cleared the way for him, even if Saji was still glaring at him for having beat Sona.

Once he was in place, Sona stood in front of him and spread her arms. "In the name of Lucifer, Leviathan, Beelzebub and Asmodeus, the Underworld, and the House of Sitri, I call upon you, Keijutsu Hatsume. Heed my words," she said.

A large magic circle, blue in color and bearing countless lines of arcane text, appeared around the young man.

"Offer up thy soul to my will and thy will to my command."

In the air between them, there was a flash of light, and a Bishop piece appeared, hovering in midair.

"Begin a new life as a Devil and my servant. Revel in this gift that I bestow upon you. Become my Bishop!" she declared.

The Evil Piece shot forward and hit Keijutsu in the chest, over his heart. But rather than cause any pain, the Piece sank through his skin as if it were not even there. The magic circle spun around him and glowed brightly, bright enough that Keijutsu closed his eyes.

As the Evil Piece did its work, he could feel power begin to rise from deep within, from the very center of his being. That power rose like a geyser, swift and powerful, setting his nerves alight with the sensation of pins and needles. Goosebumps rose on his skin, and he could even feel his hair stand on end.

Finally, just before the rush of energy became too much for him to handle, it vanished. The magical circle around him faded too, and he opened his eyes.

Sona was standing there with her arms lowered. "It's done. From this point on, you will live as my servant and my Bishop. Welcome to my peerage, Keijutsu Hatsume," she declared.

Keijutsu frowned. Except for that rush, he didn't initially feel any different. He didn't even sprout any wings like Tsubaki had shown-

As if on cue, or perhaps responding to his mental commands, a pair of black wings burst from his back, somehow not shredding his clothes in the process. Keijutsu looked at them in surprise. With just a thought, his wings flapped rapidly and nearly lifted him off the ground, before he grunted and willed them to stop. "Looks like I'll need some practice…" he muttered.

Sona chuckled at that. However, just then, the sound of moaning reached their ears. Keijutsu looked over towards the source and blinked. He had completely forgotten about Rias and the fact that she was still here, albeit unconscious. But it looked like she was now awakening.

Said redhead yawned and rubbed her eyes. "Sona, what's going on? The last thing I remember was talking to you about those metal creatures and the-" she started to say, before jerking and falling back down as she was stung by the metal wasp… again.

Keijutsu sighed. "That takes care of that problem. For now, at least," he said.

Sona couldn't help it. She laughed. While the other members of her peerage looked at her in surprise, having almost never seen her laugh, Keijutsu smiled. "Well, Sona-kaichou, it's getting rather late. I'll come back first thing in the morning, and you can properly instruct me on the duties regarding my role as your servant. Until then, I bid you farewell," he said.

With that, he retracted his wings and walked out of the Councilroom, leaving the rest of them standing there.

Tsubaki looked over at Sona. "That was a stroke of great fortune. I have a feeling Hatsume-san will do well as a member of our team."

Sona nodded, retaining a small smile. "Yes, I do believe he will."

* * *

As he walked back towards his apartment, Keijutsu reflected on the events of the day. They had turned out more prosperous than he had thought that they would.

In truth, when he had walked into Sona's office, he was somewhat expecting to lose their final match. He had only been able to end their first match in a draw, after all, and he knew that she'd be all the more determined to win this time. But against his own expectations, he pulled through.

Now he had the freedom to perform almost any experiment he wanted, with every one of them coming at no expense to himself. Plus, he had become a devil, so now he had thousands of years ahead of him to continually come up with new ideas and increase his knowledge. Things were looking up for him.

A buzzing caught his attention and he watched his wasp land on his shoulder, a strand of red hair held between its front legs. He smirked and pocketed the hair, while also petting the artificial creature with his finger. It leaned into the petting and gave its closest approximation to a purr, which really just sounded a metallic growl.

And he even got a DNA sample belonging to someone who had the power to literally vaporize anything they hit. Another feather in his cap.

"You're certainly looking lively."

Keijutsu stopped and looked around him. The voice that just spoke was no mystery to him, even if he couldn't see where it had come from.

"Up here, silly!"

He looked up and saw what appeared to be a little girl standing on one foot atop a telephone booth. She looked like no more than a child, one with short, dark green hair and one golden yellow eye. The other eye, her left one, was covered by a metal eyepatch with the design of a keyhole over it. She wore a red dress with a knee-length frilled skirt, light pinks sleeves, and a red collar. On her legs were black boots with purple striped leggings, and she had fingerless golden metal gloves on.

The wasp on his shoulder buzzed in fright and flew away, while Keijutsu sighed. "I thought it was you. What are you doing here, Rasiel?" he asked.

The girl, Rasiel, giggled and leaped from the phone booth, making a pirouette in mid-air and landing on top of a mail box. "Why, I came out here to enjoy the sights! After being cooped up in that apartment for so long, I wanted to explore this town and watch its humans," she told him.

He raised an eyebrow. "Oh, really? And what did you see?"

Rasiel sighed. "Nothing I didn't expect. Give them over a hundred years since I last took an interest in them, and they can still act foolish. So foolish," she said.

"And you're surprised by that? You yourself told me that I was the only human you've become intrigued by since after World War I. That's a long time to be bored," he pointed out.

Rasiel began spinning in place. "Ja. I tell you, if the human race hadn't started a second World War all on their own, I'd have probably started it myself to avoid being bored. Foolish as they are, they would have fallen for it, too," she said.

Deciding not to focus on the girl's too-casual mentioning of potentially starting a war, Keijutsu said "Well, I'm heading back to the apartment to put this DNA sample in storage. Try not to cause any trouble until you get back."

As he began to walk away, Rasiel stopped and jumped once again, this front-flipping before she landed right in front of him. "Hold on a second! How did your match with that Devil girl go? Did you win?" she questioned.

He shrugged. "As a matter of fact, yes. Though I decided to become a Devil anyway, with the chance to live longer being my prime motivation for it," he answered.

Rasiel was silent for a moment, before he heard sniffling. Quickly, that sniffling turned to giggling, and then to full-out laughter as the little girl held her sides. Keijutsu frowned. "Exactly what about that is so funny?"

"It's… It's just… this!" she said between laughs, gesturing to him and herself. "I'm supposed to be the holder of all the secrets of Heaven and Earth, yet my Keykeeper has become a Devil! It's too funny!" she said, laughing even louder.

Keijutsu shook his head. It was ironic, yes, but he hardly found it as hilarious as she did. Though, she did remind him of something. "By the way, when you do come back, I'll need access to the Library. Apparently, Heaven has more secrets than I suspected, and I want to take a look at some of them. Particularly at the 'Sacred Gears'," he said.

Rasiel smiled. "Oh? It sounds like you have something fun planned," she commented.

He shrugged. "Perhaps. But I'll need time to make preparations if I'm going to do anything as dramatic as what you're likely envisioning." And with that, he moved around her and continued on his walk home.

She watched him go, and smiled. She knew she had been right when she had chosen Keijutsu as her Keykeeper. He just had a habit of making things more interesting.

* * *

 **And that ends this chapter. I had planned on working on my FFX-2 story, but this jumped into my train of thought and stuck there like a fly on molasses. Still, I had fun writing it, and I hope you had fun reading it. If and when I continue this, it will likely show Deiru's first job as a devil, possibly his first client, and then I might start moving things in the direction of the canon timeline. Maybe. So, stay tuned!**

 **Please review! If you flame me then Bruce Lee will smash you with his nunchaku. (I'm just kidding… or am I?)**


	6. Chapter 6: The Jobs of a Devil

Author's Note: I do not own High School DxD or anything affiliated with it. The rights to it belong solely to their respective owners.

* * *

 **Author's Note: And here's the latest chapter. No real reason that this one's out so soon. Or at least, no reason I haven't already provided. But you know the drill by now. First, replies!**

 **Frankieu: Sona won't be dropping the marriage thing just yet. After all, just because he's the only one she'd be willing to marry so far doesn't mean she instantly will. I plan to have their romance occur more gradually.**

 **Squadpunk 2.0: I actually planned for Rasiel before I decided to have Keijutsu research Sacred Gears. But then I noticed that her having access to Heaven's secrets would make things convenient, so I went with that.**

 **Bloodredmoon22: Your welcome.**

 **ARSLOTHES: Glad that you liked how I did it. And for the pairing, I'll be counting reviews.**

 **GodX: Sona's** **Bishops** **are Momo and Keijutsu; I switched out Reya and instead had her represent three of Sona's** **Pawn** **pieces. Since she had three left over from Saji and Ruruko, and one** **Bishop** **is worth three Pawns, it worked out better than I planned.**

 **T-B-R: I'm glad that you like her.**

 **The unsung antihero: The bit with the golems that had the flower for the power source was inspired by the 'Gilded Lotus', one of my favorite cards. Though now that you point it out, I guess Venser did have control over space and dimensions, didn't he? Maybe I'll give Keijutsu something like that, but if I did it would be FAR into the future.**

 **EveningStarz: Thank you; I find The Mystic Archives of Dantalian to be a criminally underrated series. Never understood why it didn't sell well in Japan. But I'm glad you like it too.**

 **Ablackenedrose: Well, I wasn't really trying to make a character that was sympathetic, though I do see your point. And as for causing the Student Council issues, he did so for either of two reasons. Either it was A: They were trying to spy and him and break into his house, or it was B: Just like Sona was willing to dig up information on him, he was willing to use her to get field data for his experiments. And although they both acknowledge that what they did would be considered good, they're both aware that neither of them regret their decision.**

 **Borda: I wasn't offended, and you do have a point. Massive harem stories are low in character development, or get bogged down in that and don't further the plot. That's why, when I do write a fic with a harem, I try to keep it to no more than five girls, as I feel that's the max I could do while maintain a balance of development and plot pacing. And if I did do more than one pairing in this particular story, it would only be two at the absolute maximum.**

 **And Saito90: To be honest, I didn't plan on Tsubaki getting a crush on Keijutsu. She has one on Kiba in canon, and that was something I didn't plan on changing. Didn't see a real need to. But just like with Serafall, I can count the reviews, and if the number of reviews asking for KeijutsuxTsubaki reach a certain threshold, then I might do it.**

 **And now, let's begin!**

* * *

Chapter 6: The Jobs of a Devil

 **The next day…**

Keijutsu stood in front of the main gate to Kuoh Academy. Around him, other students walked in, talking with each other about various topics. The latest gossip, what they were planning to do after school, whether or not they got their homework done… Life as usual, really. The details concerning the picture would change, but the overall image of life would remain fairly the same.

' _I'm not sure whether that's more comforting or depressing_ ,' he thought, taking a deep breath. Not counting yesterday, this would mark his first day living as a Devil, the start of a new life that would last for years and years to come. A long, winding road through time, one that contained endless possibilities for both ruin and glory.

And it all would start here, at the fateful Academy where he and Sona had crossed paths. How fitting. Taking a deep breath, he walked forward into the school, heading for his first class.

His first day as a Devil turned out to be more boring than he thought it would be. Even though he was supposed the learn the rules and procedures of being Sona's servant, she had not called on him once during class. Being the Student Council President, he knew full well that she had the authority to have him excused on the grounds of club duties. And yet she hadn't done that. Was this some subtle form of payback?

Nothing interested happened after the last class, when he was sitting in the classroom and reading a book on electromagnetism. He heard someone clearing their throat and looked up to see that it was Saji, looking distinctly irritated.

"Good afternoon, Genshirou-san. How can I help you?" he asked pleasantly.

Saji grimaced. "Sona-kaichou sent me to find you and bring you to the Student Council room. Come with me, please," he said.

That statement alone set off a wave of whispers throughout the other students in the room. The head of the Rocket Club was being summoned by the Council President? What could it be for? Was his club getting shut down? Did he do something and was trouble? Was Sona asking him on a date?

Doing his best to ignore the mutterings of his fellow students, Keijutsu nodded and stood up. "Very well. Lead the way," he said.

Saji nodded and the two of them left the room. The sight of the two of them together set off yet more whispers, causing Keijutsu to roll his eyes. Didn't these people have a brown-haired mega-pervert to whisper about?

Deciding to make some small talk, he said "So, Genshirou-san, how long have you been a part of Sona's peerage?"

"Not that long; I was actually the newest member of the group before you showed up. Sona found out that I had the **Absorption Line** Sacred Gear and offered the chance to become a Devil. I accepted, and she used her remaining  Pawn Pieces to get it done," he explained.

Keijutsu raised an eyebrow. "Wait. Remaining Pawn Pieces? You mean that you can use more than one Evil Piece to revive the same person?" he questioned. When Saji nodded, he asked" What would be the benefit in that?"

Saji smirked. "Actually, if you're trying to use them on someone that's really strong, it may take more than one piece to turn someone into a Devil. For me, it took a total of four Pawns," he said proudly.

The white-haired man hummed. That was interesting. And since a Bishop was technically worth only three Pawn pieces, that meant that Saji's Sacred Gear actually gave him more raw power than he had. "If you don't mind, is it possible that I can later perform a study on your Sacred Gear? Nothing invasive, of course, but a brief inspection to see if I can learn anything."

Saji thought about that for a while, before eventually shrugging. "I don't see why not. But…" he began, before suddenly whipping around and grabbing the front of Keijutsu's shirt.

Quickly, Keijutsu grabbed Saji's arm and was about to channel of current of electricity, before Saji spoke. "Let's get one thing clear. To me, you're an arrogant, manipulative bastard that just happened to get lucky twice in row against our King. We may both be on the same team now, and Kaichou may have taken an interest in you. But that doesn't mean I'm required to _like_ you, and I don't. Got it?"

Keijutsu stared at him for a moment, his smile fading away faster than a desert mirage. "I… see. Well, maybe your opinion of me will chance with time. But right now, I understand you clearly, and I'll keep that in mind," he said.

Saji nodded and let him go, smoothing out any creases he might have caused in Keijutsu's uniform. "Glad we understand each other. Now, let's get going," he said, and kept walking. Keijutsu walked behind him, mind running at high-speed. From that tirade alone, he had been able to gather the impression that Saji had a great deal of admiration for Sona, possibly bordering on a romantic attraction.

That meant that, if Saji kept this attitude up, he had a very real chance of becoming a problem in the future whenever he tried to do experiments and they had the risk, however small, of causing Sona any inconvenience. And while such loyalty was useful, it could lead to unpredictable consequences. He'd have to tread a lot more carefully then, at least until he either at succeeded at duplicating the young man's Sacred Gear or gave up on it.

Keijutsu refocused on what as in front of him just in time to noticed that they had arrived, and that the door to the Council room was opening. Inside was Sona, who was sitting at her desk and doing paperwork, while Tsubaki was standing behind her and to the side, holding a stack of more papers. The rest of the peerage wasn't present, something that caused him to raise an eyebrow.

Before he could speak, however, Saji elbowed him in the stomach. "Lesson Number One: Never interrupt Sona-kaichou when she's working. That's a surefire way to get punished," he whispered.

Keijutsu grunted but did as he advised, and waited in silence. Eventually, Sona finished with whatever document she was working on and handed it to Tsubaki, who added it to the stack in her arms. Then she looked up at us and placed her hands on her desk.

"Thank you for bringing Keijutsu here, Saji. You can go home unless you receive a client request," she said. Saji bowed and left, leaving just the three of them.

Once he was gone, Sona smirked slightly. "Well, Kei-san, how does it feel to be a Devil?" she asked.

He shrugged. "There is a psychological shift, to be sure, but I don't physically _feel_ any different, to be honest. Though once I got home last night, I did notice that my power with magic is almost twice what it was before," he said.

"I expected that much. Each of the Evil Pieces grants a different boost in abilities to whoever it is used on. The Knight receives an increase in speed, the Rook a boost in strength, and the Bishop is granted greater magical power. I had one of each remaining, and I felt that the Bishop would fit you and your skillset best," she told him.

Keijutsu nodded. It made sense. He wasn't much of one for directly confrontation, preferring to let his inventions and tactics win the battle in the long run. More power with magic would go a long way to that. "Moving past that, exactly what will I be doing today. I'm assuming that you send your servants out on assignments, correct?"

"In a sense, yes," Sona replied, and waved her hand. On the table to the side, there was a flash of light and several stacks of fliers appeared, each of them bearing a Sitri magic circle on the front along with the phrase 'for all your wishes you desire to come true'. "Your first assignment will be take these fliers and pass them out to people in town. You're to do this every day after school until you've passed out all the ones you see here, at which point I'll give you more to pass out."

He blinked once. Then twice. "That's it? Passing out fliers? That's my assignment?" he asked, looking at her in surprise. He had honestly been expecting something a bit more… important. Maybe this was how she was going to pay him back for beating her?

Evidently, his disappointment showed, as Sona frowned. "Don't assume that this is just some sort of meaningless job, or that I'm giving you this assignment as punishment. This is actually one of the way that Low-Class Devils such as yourself actually rise in rank and prestige in the Underworld," she said sternly.

Keijutsu raised an eyebrow, and sat down on the couch. "Is that so? Please explain," he said.

"Whenever you pass out one of those fliers and someone uses it, if they have enough willpower, they can summon you with the pre-prepared magic circle written on it. Then, in exchange for having their wish fulfilled, the client forms a contract with Devil in question. The contract grants the Devil a small portion of the client's power, thereby raising their own strength and prestige. Eventually, once you have obtained enough contracts from a number of different clients, you can earn the right to be promoted to Middle or, if you contract with someone of great power influence, maybe even High Class," Sona lectured him.

"Hmmm… So, this is something that all Devils do? Pass out fliers and grow in rank by getting contracts?" he asked.

"Exactly. Though once you've been passing out fliers for a while, I might allow you to get your own familiar, who can handle the passing0out of the fliers for you. But for now, this is your job. So, get to it," she ordered.

Keijutsu sighed. "As you command," he said, putting the stacks of fliers in his bookbag and heading for the door. He could see the point of the task rather easily now, but that didn't detract from how tedious such a process was going to be. Not to mention that this was going probably going to cut into time that he had previously allocated to doing research. If only there was a way to pass out these fliers faster.

Actually, there might be a way. If he headed straight back home and gather a flock of his ornithopters, then he could give each of them a small number of these fliers. Then they can airdrop them all over the city, maximizing area coverage and decreasing the amount of time it would take by a factor of-

"And no using your inventions to pass any of them out for you!" Sona called out after him.

Damn it.

* * *

 **A few hours later…**

Keijutsu plastered a fake smile on his face, doing his best to make it look as real as possible while he passed out fliers. The sight of a young man wearing a school uniform and lab-coat handing out wish-granting fliers was strange enough. Already he could feel his pride demanding that he abandon this task and get back to what he considered to be more important work. But orders were orders, and Keijutsu had out himself in a position where he could be ordered around by becoming a Devil.

The extra few thousand years of life looked so much better before he learned he had to do this. Now he wondered whether there really was some sense of cosmic karma coming back to bite him in the ass.

Behind him he heard a set of giggling, and he looked behind him. To his shock, Rasiel was there, standing on the back of a chair and twirling around on one foot. Such an act was garnering the attention of more than few spectators, amazed at the girl's sense of balance.

Quickly approaching the girl, he grabbed her hand. "Rasiel! What are you doing here?" he demanded.

The girl giggled again and removed her hand from his grasp, jumping down onto the ground. "You're foolish. I've been here for the past thirty minutes. And you didn't notice me all this time? So foolish," she said.

Keijutsu opened his mouth, before shutting it. That was another blow to his pride, one that left a bitter taste in his mouth. But it seemed Rasiel wasn't done there.

"I have to say, I didn't expect you to ever fall this low. My own Keykeeper reduced to the job of a messenger boy, passing out papers at the behest of his 'master'," she taunted.

He frowned. "Alright, that's enough. Tell me why you're _really_ here," Keijutsu said.

Rasiel sighed and reached into the pocket of her dress. From it, she produced a small, leather-bound book with gold filigree on it. The pages appeared to have yellowed with age, yet the book itself was in pristine condition. "I looked at the section of the Library you asked about, and found this. A book detailing every Sacred Gear ever made by God, divided into categories and classes and including a description of each one. Here," she said, handing it out to him.

Keijutsu's eyes grew huge, and he quickly took the book from her hands. A quick inspection showed that the contents were written in a mixture of Hebrew, Aramaic and Greek, the same three languages originally used in the Bible.

Placing the book in his bag and making sure that there wasn't anything that could damage it, he said "Thank you for this. What can I do to repay you?"

Rasiel's smile returned. "Well, I was eyeing this new candy shop just around the corner. Perhaps you could go in there once you're done with paper-duty and get me, say, five kilos of chocolate and caramel?" she asked sweetly.

Keijutsu looked back up, his eyes even huger. Five entire kilograms of chocolate and caramel? How the hell was she supposed to eat all that?! Thinking about it, however, he decided that he didn't want to know. It seemed like every Biblioprincess had their own food craving, and this was Rasiel's. Still, it could be worse. Fried bread was even more expensive, and at least she wasn't asking for that.

"You've got a deal. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have a job to return to," he said, and went back to passing out fliers.

Once he had passed out at least a third of all the fliers, Keijutsu decided that it was time to call it in for the day, and returned home. In his living room, he sat back and opened the book on Sacred Gears while Rasiel happily ate the chocolate he had gotten her.

The fact that it was written in multiples languages should have phased him, but when he had been examining a different book written in Latin last night, he had discovered something interesting. Apparently, becoming a Devil had given him an ability called 'Language' which enabled him to read and hear any language in existence as if it were the one he was most familiar with (Japanese). It likely worked in reverse too, so that anyone who spoke to him would be able to easily understand him too. That would certainly make things more convenient if his clients spoke another language.

It also made reading a book as archaic as the one in his hands no real issue, and he did so with a fervor.

"So, the very first Sacred Gear was known as **Longinus Spear** , named as such for having been wielded by the Roman centurion Longinus, who stabbed Jesus Christ while he was on the cross. The blood of God's own Son gave the spear its power, and it remains the most powerful Sacred Gear even today," he read.

Not only but, but the name Longinus was extended to include every Sacred Gear that had enough power to slay a divine being, something God had never intended to have exist, but eventually came about anyway. And there was a total of 13 such Sacred Gears, each with their own powers and abilities. How fascinating.

Looking through it, Keijutsu was astounded by the sheer diversity of what Sacred Gears could do. From absorbing an opponent's power to creating swords with variety of powers to being able to manipulate death and life itself. Even Saji's Sacred Gear was just one of a group of five, all of them possessing a piece of the soul of Vritra, the Dragon King.

Looking over at one of his fake **Absorption Lines** sitting at his worktable, he sighed. It would seem that, in trying to replicate a Sacred Gear, his research into the limits of magic had hit a dead end. Unless he could get his own hands on a Sacred Gear and learned the exact finer points of how God made them—something this book seemed to lack—he would never be able to copy them with magic.

Where to go from here, then? If he was to start over in experimenting with magic, then he needed to point to start _from_. Duplicating one of God's creations didn't work… So, what about duplicating a creation from just nature? He had already done so on a limited scale with his golems, who were meant to crudely resemble humans. What if he used magic to create a living being?

Keijutsu hummed. Actually, that was as good a question as any. Necromancy already existed, and had the power to animate that which was dead. But the 'life' that necromancers gave their work was also a shadow of true life, not a real resurrection in the plain sense. And the 'zombies' made by necromancers certainly weren't as intelligent as the creatures they were made from. But could magic, with all its capabilities, actually create intelligent life?

If the answer was no, then he had found one limit on the things that magic could and couldn't do. But if he could... if he could make an intelligent, living being using magic, then he held in hands a power normally ascribed to the divine. Even if he wasn't personally in it for power, he couldn't deny that having the power to make life definitely had its own allure.

It was decided, then. Having failed to create a working Sacred Gear, Keijutsu would try to use magic to create intelligent artificial life.

Now the next question was thus: What form should that life take? Should he try to create life that was mechanical in nature, organic life, or something else altogether?

Keijutsu stood up and began pacing his living room, ignoring the look of curiosity he got from Rasiel as he considered pros and cons. Starting with mechanical life, the two were easy to see. If he could create intelligent mechanical life—some sort of 'living machine', as it were—then the machine had several advantages.

First, if he was successful and could replicate the feat, then each living machine he invented could be specialized for whatever task was needed. Each machine would also be almost completely automated, requiring little-to-no direct user input. Furthermore, they were, by design, exceptional at following rules and procedures, and the only thing they would need to keep going was regular maintenance and an energy source.

However, attempting to create mechanical life also had its drawbacks. Due to being designed for a specific purpose, a living machine wouldn't be able to adapt if placed in a situation outside of its parameters, leaving it essentially helpless. Since they would possess only rational thought that followed pure logic, they would be unable to draw the same conclusions organic life could draw by taking indirect routes. And even if he succeeded, it would still fall on him to provide growth for the machines; they wouldn't be able to evolve on their own.

Keijutsu next considered the pros and cons of trying to create organic life. The problem of being unable to adapt and evolve would be solved easily, as successive generations of artificial organics would be made more capable of survival by artificial and natural selection. They could also work in more than one capacity over time, and could assist each other in completing assigned jobs, with a decentralization of authority enabling him to delegate tasks to those he deemed capable of performing.

But just like machines, organic life was imperfect as well. Organic life was less adept at following given procedures, so their work process tended to be more unpredictable. Secondly, their method of integrating new members into the group was much more complex than machines, so achieving full efficiency would take more time. And he didn't want to start thinking yet about the fact that organic life would have to include emotions, the process of which would be almost endlessly complicated in and of itself.

Taking all of this into account, Keijutsu considered which path to take. After over an hour of thinking, he finally reached a conclusion.

Despite all its frailties, and the additional difficulties it would pose, he still concluded creating artificially organic life to be the better option. Perhaps it was his own bias as an organic being talking, but organic life would be more effective than machines. Their ability to naturally adapt would, given enough time, lead to a wide array of possible beings, each tailor-made to survive in their own environment, and the increased ability to perform work that came with it would be a huge boon to any of his other studies.

Keijutsu chuckled. ' _I wonder if this is how Victor Frankenstein felt. All that time spent trying to give life to a patchwork of body parts put together from old corpses, believing that he was harnessing a power reserved for God_ ,' he thought. But unlike the unfortunate doctor, he knew that he wouldn't be satisfied with a patchwork of already-used pieces. No, he would try to artificially grow a human body—choosing human as the designated species since they would be the easiest to study—and then give that body animation.

Already he could feel his mind buzzing with ideas, thoughts of what he would need to study in order to get to test this question on magic, and where his knowledge on the human body and human life was lacking.

"You look like you're plotting something _very_ exciting," Rasiel commented.

Keijutsu smiled. "For once, you're spot on."

Rasiel stared at him for a moment, unbelieving. Eventually, however, she smiled widely back at him. Oh, this was going to be fun.

* * *

 **A few days later…**

"That's the last of the fliers, Kaichou," Keijutsu said, sitting down on the couch.

Sona smiled. "Excellent. Good job on finishing your first assignment as my Bishop," she said.

He shrugged. "All in a day's work, I suppose. So now what? Is there another stack for me to pass out?"

Sona shook her head. "There was, but something else came up. I received a summons request from one of my own clients, but I have to stay here and finish this report on the school's annual budget. Therefore, I am delegating the summons to you," she announced.

Keijutsu looked at her in surprise. "Are you serious? So soon and I'm actually being sent out?"

"Normally, I would be having you pass out fliers for a few more weeks before letting you start getting your own clients, but the client asked me specifically, and everyone else in my peerage is already on their own jobs. Consider yourself lucky" she said, smirking.

' _Lucky, indeed_ ," he thought, before nodding. "Very well. What needs to be done for me to meet this client?"

Sona pout down her report and walked out from behind the desk. Standing in the center of the room, she conjured a large blue magic circle. "This magic circle will take you directly to the client's location. From there, you have to perform whatever task they ask you within reason. Don't disappoint me now," she said.

Keijutsu nodded and stepped into the center of the circle. It began spinning around him and glowing brighter, and he could feel the magic in the circle resonate with the magic in his body. The circle spun faster, and Keijutsu closed his eyes. ' _I hope this works_ ,' he thought. After all, he was a Bishop. Not having enough magic power to use a magic circle would be pretty embarrassing.

The light reached its peak brightness and Keijutsu suddenly felt a sensation of weightlessness. It was as if he were hovering in empty space, yet at the same time he felt like he was rushing forward, pulled by an unseen force. After a few seconds, it ended, and he opened his eyes.

It appeared as if he had been transported to a modern museum, one that was full of artifacts and relics from ancient civilizations, Quickly, he could spot Greek marble statues, Japanese samurai armor and even Chinese clay tea sets.

"Oh, it seems Sona-san sent me someone new instead," he heard a male voice say. Looking over at a collection of busts of roman figures, he saw a middle-aged man standing there with a clipboard. Said man had graying brown hair and a mustache, with brown eyes. He was wearing a blue button-up shirt with a black tie, to Keijutsu's pleasure, a white lab coat.

Keijutsu bowed. "Yes, sir. My name is Keijutsu Hatsume, one of Sona's servants. She couldn't make it today, and so she asked me to fill in for her. If that's not too much trouble, that is," he said.

The man chuckled. "I don't think it'll be a problem. I'm Professor Nishiura; I work here at this museum. Pleased to meet you, Hatsume-san," he said, bowing in return.

' _Maybe this won't be so bad_ ,' he thought, before asking "So, what is it that you need me for?"

"Well, whenever we have a new artifact come into the museum, I usually call for either Sona-san or Rias-san to help me identify it. But you seem like a learned young man, so perhaps you can help," Professor Nishiura explained.

Keijutsu's eyebrows rose. A chance to examine and identify and museum exhibit before it was even put on display. This sounded like fun. "I'd be happy to help. Show me the artifact, Professor," he said.

Nishiura nodded and led him into a back room, where was looked like a necklace sitting on an examination table. The necklace looked to be made of solid gold with several large links, with the pendant was emerald and in the shape of an animal's head. What animal, however, it was hard to tell, as the details of the face were worn with age.

"This is the artifact. We've determined that it likely served some sort of ritualic purpose, worn by a high priest or priestess during prayer or ceremony. What they were praying to, however, as well as the age of necklace, have been things we have yet to identify. I was hoping you might be able to shed some light before our own researchers took another crack at it," he said.

Keijutsu nodded and approached the necklace. However, once he was within a few feet of it, his senses suddenly began tingling. The presence of magic. Looking around to see if anything else might have caused it, he stepped closer to the necklace and the feeling intensified. No doubt about it. The magical energy was coming from the necklace.

Instantly, his skills as an Artificer went into overdrive, and he quickly approached the table and began examining the necklace. An array of runes appeared over his hand and he held it over the necklace, making sure not a to touch it. As he held it over one of the links of the chain, it began glowing and vibrating slightly. When Keijutsu pushed more power into his hand, however, neither the glow or the vibration increased.

"Not to interrupt, but might I ask what you're doing?" Professor Nishiura asked.

Keijutsu looked over at him. "I can sense that this necklace possesses a reservoir of magical energy. This runes on my hand will cause any part of the necklace that has such energy in it to react to my own and begin vibrating. And if I use on the part of the necklace that is the source of the energy, then it will react more violently as I increase my energy output," he said.

Moving his hand over the next link, the same affect occurred, with no chance once he increased his energy. He repeated this process for each of the links, trying to see which, if any, of the links was the energy source. However, while the initial reaction from the links was more violent as he came closer to the animal pendant, the second reaction didn't occur for any of the chain links.

Finally, when he held his hand over the pendant, he received the greatest reaction yet. And once he increased his energy output, the pendant shook even more in response. Keijutsu deactivated the spell. "As I thought. The necklace itself had no magical value—it's simply an ancient gold necklace—but the pendant does an act a sort of magical battery, enabling whoever wears it to access its abilities," he said.

"I see. How utterly fascinating. And can you tell what those abilities are?" the Professor questioned.

Keijutsu shook his head. "Not without putting the necklace on, no. And I'd rather not do that due to the slim chance that there could be a curse on the necklace that being concealed from detection. But what I can do… is this," he said, pulling back his sleeve to show his wristwatch.

He took the watch off and placed it on the table next to the necklace. After pressing the buttons on the side of the watch in a specific sequence, it suddenly began glowing blue. The blue glow expanded onto a sphere that enveloped both the watch and the necklace. "This is one of more… unconventional inventions. It enables me to take an inanimate object and, in exchange for expelling a great amount energy in the form of heat, I can reverse any damage done to the object due to use, aging, destruction, etc."

Nishiura started to nod, but then stopped. "Forgive me, but wouldn't do so somewhat violate the laws of physics?" he asked.

"Actually, not so much. The Second Law of Thermodynamics states that, within a closed system, the total amount of entropy—that is, the amount of chaos or disorder—can only increase over time. So, what my device does is isolate everything within the sphere from the surrounding environment and then, in exchange for repairing the necklace, create heat. The total of amount of entropy generated by the heat is greater than the amount that is taken away by the necklace's 'de-aging', so the Second Law is still obeyed even when the necklace itself is fixed," Keijutsu said.

Even as he spoke, the Professor could see the results before his very eyes. The numerous nicks and dents along the chains of the necklace began to suddenly repair themselves, rapidly returning to its previous state. At the same time, the air within the sphere began shimmering due to the heat that was filling the sphere up, causing the image to waver in the same manner as the heat coming off a hot road.

After several minutes, the pendant began to be repaired as well, thousands of years of age and wear melting away as Keijutsu's invention repaired it. The shimmering of the air grew as it absorbed the heat from the spell, which continued to increase. And finally, the shape of the animal head came into clearer focus, until he saw exactly what it was meant to be—the head of a cat.

At that point, he halted the process and undid the isolation sphere, allowing the heat to expanded outwards and hit them like they had just opened the door to a furnace. Ignoring it, Keijutsu out the watch back on and said, "And that's that."

The Professor came closer and gasped in awe. The necklace appeared to be perfectly restored, as if it hadn't aged a day since it was made, and now shined in stunning detail and beauty. "Incredible! If I hand my hands on a device like that, the entire profession of artifact restoration would be a thing of the past! It could revolutionize science and archeology! Does it even work for living creatures?" he asked.

Keijutsu sighed. "I wish it did, but it doesn't. Despite the fact that all objects on earth are made from the same atomic particles, there's stills something that prevents me from using this to 'de-age' any animate object. Instead, it actually ages them, doing even more of the same damage than I'm trying to fix. Sorry," he said.

Nishiura shrugged, saying "Well, it was worth a shot. But look at this! A perfectly restored jeweled necklace, one likely worn by a worshipper of Bastet!"

Keijutsu blinked. "Bastet? The Egyptian cat goddess?" he asked.

"Well, technically she was a lioness warrior goddess before she became a cat goddess, but yes, that Bastet. She was also the defender of the chief god Ra, and fought the Chaos Snake, Apophis. Now we have a ritualistic piece of jewelry that was dedicated to her, and one that has been perfectly resorted! My colleagues are going to fall over themselves to examine it once they get the news!" Professor Nishiura said, now looking positively giddy at the thought.

The young man chuckled. "I'm glad to have helped. Is there anything else you need help with?" he asked.

Nishiura shook his head. "No, you've already given me a great gift. Unless I was willing to sell my soul, I don't think I could ask you for any more. What can I do to repay for all that you've done for me?"

It was at that point that Keijutsu grinned. "How do you feel about forming a contract with me?"

* * *

 **And the ends this chapter. When the next one comes out, I will definitely be drifting towards the canon storyline, even if it doesn't get there until the chapter after. So, stay on board for that!**

 **Please review! If you flame me then Bruce Lee will smash you with his nunchaku. (I'm just kidding… o ram I?)**


	7. Chapter 7: Getting a Familiar

Author's Note: I do not own High School DxD or anything affiliated with it. The rights to it belong solely to their respective owners.

* * *

 **Author's Note: Man, two chapters for the same story in so little time? I am on fire, baby! Though, admittedly, this latest burst in inspiration came from my discovery of the National Geographic show 'Genius' which details the life of Albert Einstein, one of my two favorite physicists of all time. After watching that, I felt rejuvenated to write about Keijutsu, and that lead us here. So, before we get to that, let us see the replies!**

 **DePlexx: Thank you. I tended for that to be a sort of 'cooldown' chapter, one that didn't have as much action and more character-building. Glad that you enjoyed it.**

 **TheUknownUser2: At this point, I'm seriously considering adding a new poll to see how many people want Keijutsu to be paired with either Tsubaki or Serafall along with Sona. If I get enough more people asking for that, then a poll is what I will do.**

 **ARSLOTHES: Keijutsu's relationship with Rasiel will be given more depth in later chapters, rest assured. Though I can say for sure that I will not be pairing her with him.**

 **Squadpunk 2.0: Given time, he will.**

 **Guest #1: Well, ye need not wait any longer.**

 **Lone. Fallen. Wolf.: I know I'm not going to have Keijutsu paired with Akeno. As for Tsubaki… I'm becoming increasingly open to the idea.**

 **Frankieu: I know, right? If he could use his golems to pass them out, he wouldn't even need to do any work himself. Which is the idea.**

 **Neo Infinity: Thank you for your kind words.**

 **Guest #2: On the contrary, Keijutsu does benefit from being Sona's** **Bishop** **. The entire reason he asked for it in the first place was so that he could have his human lifespan extended by several thousand years. And with the agreement between him and Sona in place, he can spend that time performing almost any experiment he wishes. Using her money. So, contrary to what you may think, Keijutsu is not easily manipulated, and knows what he's doing.**

 **Ahsoei: In regards to your first point, you're not the first person to ask this. So, at the end of this chapter, I've posted the current formation of Sona's peerage. As for the second point, I don't remember it saying anywhere that Devils feel a sense of lethargy during the day and a boost at night. However, I could be wrong, so if you tell me where you got this information than I check myself to see if I am mistaken. And for your third point, there are other beings like Rasiel in this story, but it will be a while before they show up. And while Keijutsu is not related to Azazel, I am looking forward myself to when they meet. His backstory will be given some more detail depth in the next chapter.**

 **The unsung antihero: Hope the list I gave you helped you find which MTG cards inspired me.**

 **Grimraven.V: I took your suggestion into account, along with all the votes from the poll. The result is straight on ahead.**

 **And desdelor97: It shall be done.**

 **And now, we begin!**

* * *

Chapter 7: Getting a Familiar

Just as Keijutsu was walking into the Council room to get more fliers, Sona saw him arrive and said "Kei-san, your timing is perfect."

He blinked. "Um, it is? What did I show up in time for?" he asked. Looking around, he could see that the rest of Student Council was in attendance as well. "Did something happen?"

Saji shrugged. "Your guess is as good as mine, man. I was just called here without being told what's going on," he said.

Tomoe giggled and said "Well, you're not in trouble, if that's what you're wondering. You two are going to get your own familiars!"

Keijutsu's eyes widened. "Wait, seriously? You're letting me get a familiar now?" he asked.

Sona nodded. "Yes, I am. Saji was supposed to get his familiar last month, but Rias and her peerage beat us to the punch. And I believe you're done well enough handing out fliers that you deserve the chance to get one as well," she explained.

"Alright!" Saji yelled, pumping his fist into the air. Momo and Ruruko giggled at the action while the others smiled. "So, does the mean we're going now? Since it's a full moon and whatnot?"

Keijutsu raised an eyebrow. "A full moon? What does that have to do with?" he asked.

Tsubaki explained "The familiar realm is a place that can only be accessed from the outside during the night of the full moon, and even then only by one peerage at a time. At this moment, there are no other devils looking to gain familiars, so this is most opportune time for you both to do it."

"I see," he said, before smiling. "Well, in that case, let's get this done. What do we have to do to get to this familiar realm?"

Sona nodded to Reya and Momo, who stood back to back and conjured a large magic circle, large enough to transport the entire peerage. "This magic circle will take us there. Everyone, step inside," she ordered.

The rest of the Student Council did as she said, and stepped into the circle. Once everyone was in, it flashed brightly and everything went white. Like the last time, Keijutsu could feel that same sensation of being weightless and rushing forward simultaneously, only this time it was much more pronounced. When the spell finished and the light faded away, he looked around to see where they were.

It appeared as if they were in the middle of a large forest. However, unlike a regular forest, the trees were mostly devoid of leaves but almost covered the sky with how many branches there were. What of the sky he could see showed that it was a deep red, with its clouds only a lighter shade of red. Perhaps because of that, the ground beneath them also had a reddish hue, though what knowledge of geology Keijutsu had also told it could have just been red clay.

The entire forest itself also seemed to give off an almost menacing feel, fitting to being the home of familiars for Devils.

"So, this is the place? How do we look for familiars? Just search?" he asked.

Sona adjusted her glasses. "Well, first off, we need to find-" she began, before they heard a voice cut them off.

"I'm the first person you need to go after. The one and only Familiar Master!" the voice yelled.

Keijutsu blinked. Did that voice just make a rhyme? Looking up towards its source, he saw a thin yet muscled man with red hair under a black baseball cap he had on backwards. He was wearing a sleeveless white shirt and black shorts, with a jacket tied around his waist and a large backpack on his back. The fingerless gloves completed the 'hiking traveler' look given off, along with the cocky grin.

Saji nearly jumped as foot in the air at the sudden shout, and pointed towards the newcomer. "Who the hell is this guy?!" he yelled.

"He's the Familiar Master. He guides young devils in finding familiars and making sure they don't get lost here in the forest. His name is Zatouji," Tsubasa mentioned.

"That's exactly right, kiddies. And it looks like we have a pair of newbies!" Zatouji yelled, leaping down to land in front of them.

Keijutsu eyebrow twitched. Okay, that rhyming definitely had to be done on purpose. Such a belief was further confirmed when the Familiar Master said "Well, we're definitely losing any daylight. Follow me; I'll get you some familiars, alright."

With that, Zatouji turned around and began walking deeper into the forest, and the Student Council followed. As they were walking, they passed by a lake wear a massive Undine was just emerging from the water, showing off abs that could have made bodybuilders jealous. However, neither Keijutsu or Saji were interested.

As they were walking, Reya asked "So what kind of familiar are you two looking for, anyway?"

Both young men were silent for a moment, until Keijutsu shrugged. "To be honest, I have no idea. I suppose that I'll know when I see it," he said.

Saji said "Well, it'd be nice if a could have a Dragon Sprite like Asia got. But if that doesn't work, I still want one that can kick some ass!"

"Have a familiar ready for combat is smart. Finding one? Now that's the hard part," Zatouji remarked, nodding his head. "But if you're truly set on getting a Dragon to keep, I can guide you to where they sleep."

Saji looked at him. "Seriously? Alright, man!" he cheered, pumping his fist.

With that, the Familiar Master lead them though the forest. As they kept walking, they saw yet more types of familiars. There were wolves, bugs, imps, several types of birds, even a mass of moving green slime that they quickly avoided. The trees of the forest gradually gave way to rugged terrain, with small rock formations appearing here and there.

Eventually, they were led to a large cave, where Zatouji said "This is the cave of the Dragon familiars. They're inside, but so are the older Dragons, so keep aware."

"Having a Dragon-type familiar to go with your **Absorption Line** is be a wise choice, Saji. Let's go in," Sona said, but stopped when Zatouji held up his hand.

"Now hold on just a sec! This is a Dragon cave, let's not forget. Only the one seeking the familiar should go inside; too many people and we'll all get fried," he warned.

Ruruko hummed. "Well, I guess that makes sense. If this was my house, I'd be a lot madder if a whole group of people came walking in than just one person," she thought aloud.

Getting the idea, Saji looked towards the cave entrance. "So… I've got to go in alone then, huh?" he said. Suddenly, the entrance looked a lot more menacing than before, as if there was a giant Dragon inside just waiting to bite him in half. He could even see it too. It would be as large as house, covered in bloody scales, and shoot smoke of its nostrils with every breath while looking at him like he as an ant.

Saji shook his head to dispel the image. Even if that was what awaited him, he couldn't back out now! If he got a Dragon as his familiar, he'd be far better off in a fight! The image faded away to be replaced by another. It was the same giant dragon, but this time he was riding on its back, while Asia and Sona were sitting behind him.

' _Oh, Saji-kun, I never realized how handsome you were!_ ' Asia would say, her arms wrapped tightly around his waist while her long blonde hair fluttered in the wind.

Sona would add ' _I agree. Now that you have a Dragon familiar, you're much more impressive than before._ '

And to complete the picture, both Keijutsu and Issei would be cowering at his familiar's feet, white flags raised in surrender while forced to wear 'Saji is the Best' T-shirts. It was perfect.

Just that full picture alone was enough to set his courage afire, and Saji called "Oh, yeah! That's what's going to happen! I'm going to get this familiar, and then I'll be king of the world!" He looked back towards the cave and dashed right in, grinning like a madman.

Several members of the Council laughed at the display, while Zatouji shook his head in amusement. "I have no idea what went through that kid's head, but it sure got him to tread," he rhymed again.

They waited there in silence for a whole ten minutes, but by that time some of them were getting worried. "You know, maybe it would have been better if at least a small group went in there. Should we go in to check on him?" Momo asked, looking towards the cave entrance.

Tsubasa crossed her arms and said "I don't think that's such a good idea. He might be taking a while just because he has to convince the dragon to go with him. I don't think he would've ran into any trouble this early."

As if to contradict her, they heard a loud scream of "AAAAAHHHH!" echoing from inside the save, along with a roar the could only have come from a dragon.

"Saji!" Momo and Ruruko called, and began to rush into the cave. However, before they could take more than two steps, they were stepped by Zatouji grabbing the back of their uniforms.

"Letting you help him is something I can't condone. If he really wants a powerful familiar, this is a challenge he has to face alone," he said seriously.

The girls struggled to release his hold on them, but then Tsubaki laid a hand on their shoulders. "I want to help him too, but he's right. This is Saji's test, and we have no place in it, just like we'll have no place to interfere when Keijutsu finds his familiar," she said.

Although that answer satisfied neither girl, and their expressions showed as much, it did convince to not go rushing in. Zatouji let them go, and began to wait patiently with the rest of them. At least until Reya asked "By the way, where is Keijutsu-san?"

Sona's eyes widened and she looked around. Indeed, Keijutsu wasn't anywhere to be seen, as if he had just vanished. "What the-? Where did he go?!" she yelled.

Zatouji's also looked, and the color drained from his face. In a rare moment of non-rhyming, he pointed and said "Oh, this is bad! Look!" They did, and saw a set of footprints in the dirt leading further into the rocky terrain. Zatouji explained "These rocklands holds some of this realm's most dangerous fauna. That way leads to the nesting grounds of the Nine-Headed Hydra!"

If was possible, Sona's eyes went even wider, before they narrowed. "Then we have no time to waste. Tsubaki, Momo, Ruruko, you stay here and make sure that Saji makes it out of there, with a familiar or not. Tomoe, Tsubasa, Reya, you three come with me. We need to find Keijutsu before he gets himself killed," she ordered.

Her servants split up as ordered, as she looked at Zatouji. "Lead the way," she said.

* * *

As much as the image of him beating Issei and Keijutsu might have fired up Saji at the start, his bravado began to dwindle the farther he went into the cave. It began harder the see, since there was no light source inside. Eventually, he was forced to use what skill in magic he had to create a little orb of light that hovered over his palm, casting everything in a flickering purple glow.

After walking for about five minutes, he began to see marks against the sides of the cave, as if something sharp had been scrapped against them in several places. Sharp like a sword… or a set of claws. A snap underneath his foot got his attention, and Saji bent down to see what it was. His heart nearly fell into his stomach at the realization that it was a skull. A skull belong to what looked like a racoon, or some other animal.

"Well, at least I know what they eat know," he muttered to himself.

He kept going, trying to ignore the sound of more animal bones being broken under his feet as he walked. Gradually, the bones began intermixed with broken eggshells and piles of… droppings… as well as the scrapes along the walls becoming deeper and more frequent.

Finally, the cave opened up to a large cavern, one that had an opening near the top to let in some light from outside. Sitting directly in the center on the cave was a massive nest, and that looked like it had been disturbed recently.

Saji held his spell up higher and approached the nest. Inside of it, his eyes bulged at the sight of several young dragons. They were all deep purple in color, each of them looking like a typical Eastern Dragon, and they were all sleeping and curled up into little scaly balls. It was almost cute.

The light from his spell caused them to stir, and Saji quickly extinguished it. But it was too late. One dragon yawned, displaying multiple rows of tiny fangs, which in turn caused the other to wake up further. In a matter of seconds, he had several baby dragons staring at him, a new presence in their otherwise familiar habitat.

Saji chuckled nervously. "Hey there, little guys. How are you doing?" he asked.

Apparently, that was the wrong thing to say, as they each began letting out a high-pitched wail, like baby calling for their mother. Their mother.

"Oh, crap! I'm sorry! I don't know what I did, but I'm sorry! Just stop shouting before-" he rambled, before he was cut off by a low, rumbling growl behind him.

Slowly, almost mechanically, he turned around. Standing right in front of him was a fully grown, purple-scaled Japanese Dragon, who was staring down at him with all the rage a parent and a beast together could muster.

Shit.

* * *

Keijutsu slowly wandered down the dirt road, letting his senses dictate where he was going. He had just been standing with Sona and the others when he felt something prick at edge of his consciousness. A pulse of energy, one that was faint, but noticeable to an Artificer like him. He decided to figure out where the strange energy was coming from, and set off.

The farther he walked into the valley, the more he could sense the energy source, but that wasn't the only thing he sensed. The life energies of several kinds of creatures, most of them filled with ill intent or some just moving around. If he had possessed the time, he would have loved to have explore further and takes notes on all the various creatures that were living here. But it would seem that would have to wait for another day.

Eventually, his wandering led him to a fork in the road, both paths looking nearly identical. Down one path, he could feel a very powerful source of malevolent energy, likely coming from some sort of ferocious beast. But he could also sense that the energy source he had detected was also down that route. Which meant that, if he wanted to satisfy his curiosity, he'd have to willingly put himself in danger.

After thinking about it for a moment, he shrugged. ' _Well, it's not like this is the first time I've taken a risk just to learn something_ ,' he thought. With that in mind, he went down the more dangerous path.

Not far behind him, Sona was using her connection to his Evil Piece to try and track his location. If he had been her Rook she could have just castled with him and they would switch places, but it was too late to change that. Out loud, she said "I just felt him change direction. He's going east now."

Zatouji's face went ever paler. "Then we'd better find him on the double. That way leads to even more trouble."

Tomoe raised an eyebrow. "More trouble than a Nine-Headed Hydra? What could possibly cause that?" she asked.

"Something that, instead of biting harder, can make decisions that are smarter," was his reply.

With Keijutsu, the rocky path eventually opened up into a wide field, one that was roughly circular in shape and filled with sand. Jagged spikes of stone hung from the sides of the walls, looking almost like spears in their sharpness. And in the center of the sand was the very item he had sensed.

It was, at first glance, a scarab beetle. However, once he came closer, he could see that it was a scarab made of several kinds of precious stones. The wings were made of emerald that shined in light, the limb and mandibles were formed from gold, and the eyes were rubies. The craftsmanship was of such detail and beauty that it temporarily took his breath away.

"Incredible…" he muttered, reaching for it. However, just before he could touch it, his instincts suddenly screamed at him. Acting faster than he thought he was able to, he leaped forwards without grabbing the scarab. That act saved him from having his head ripped from his shoulders, as a massive beast passed over him when he dived, landing where he had just been standing.

He landed on his stomach and scrambled to his feet. He turned around to get a look at his attacker, only for both it and the scarab to be gone.

"Looking for this?"

He looked up and nearly fainted at what he saw. Reclining on one of the outcroppings, scarab held beneath one paw, was a monster made of several parts. The main body was that of a massive golden-furred lion, but attached to it were a pair of wings with gray feathers. Furthermore, instead of a tail, there was a fully-grown Adder snake attached to it where the tail would be.

But it was the head that scared his most. The head was that of a young and beautiful woman, with a pale, heart shaped face, full red lips, long black hair and almond-shaped brown eyes. It didn't take a genius to recognize what kind of beast this was. He was staring at a real-life Sphinx.

The Sphinx smirked down at him and nodded towards the scarab she was holding. "I'll have you know that this is _my_ scarab, and I am _very_ partial to my belongings. You wouldn't have been trying to steal it, were you?" she asked.

Keijutsu gulped. From what he knew about Sphinxes, they were very tricky creatures. They could say one thing and mean something entirely different, and were completely savage in battle. The most famous ones were the Sphinx that encountered Oedipus in Greek mythology, as well as the 'Great' Sphinx that had a statue in Egypt.

Deciding it was best to answer her question before she decided to attack, he said "My apologies, ma'am. I came here looking for a source of magical energy, and came across that scarab. I had no idea that it was yours."

The Sphinx seemed to consider this, before shrugging. "I suppose I can believe that. However, if you can sense the energy of my scarab, then you can also sense me, and so you knew you were entering enemy territory," she pointed out. Then she grinned, showing off a set of very sharp teeth. "What explanation might you have for that?"

"Well, to be perfectly frank, I initially came to this realm in search of a familiar. I didn't enter your territory with the intention of making you my familiar, but I can't say I'm opposed to the idea," Keijutsu admitted.

"Neither would I, were I in your place. But I'm not in your place. Instead, I'm up here, having the advantage over you since _you_ are the one who has slighted _me_. Now I just have to decide what do with you," she said, looking away from him and thinking.

Keijutsu's mind rushed as he tried to think of a way out of this. He could try to use his magic to summon some of his inventions, but he wasn't sure that would work since he was, technically speaking, in a different dimension than them. He knew that he wouldn't be able to match the Sphinx in physical strength either, and he wasn't sure how resistant her species was against magic or not. So, unless he was willing to risk a battle… he had one other solution.

Smiling up at her, he said "Well, how about we play a game of wits? You decide whatever kind of game, but if I win then you become my familiar."

The Sphinx raised an eyebrow. "Oh, really? And If I win? What happens to you then?" she asked.

Keijutsu shrugged in much the same manner she had. "Then I die. It's as simple as that."

He waited in silence as the Sphinx pondered over his suggestion. He knew that he was treading on dangerous grounds here. Almost every reading he had ever come across in regard to Sphinxes said that they were very intelligent, and that trying to beat one mentally was equal to writing one's own death warrant. But, well, if he did nothing than he was going to die anyway. So why not give it a shot?

He resisted the urge to sigh in relief when the Sphinx nodded. "Very well. Since you said that I can decide the game, I'll agree to your terms. And luckily for you, I already know what game I want to play," she told him.

Rising to her full height, she said "Taking a page from my ancestors, I'm going to give you a set of three riddles. If you answer all three of them correctly, then I will concede and become your familiar. But if you get even one of them wrong, I'll make you into my next meal."

Keijutsu bowed. "Consider it done. And before we start, just so you know, my name is Keijutsu Hatsume. What might your name be?"

"I'll tell you my name if you win. If you lose, well, there'll hardly be a need for you to know anything then," she said, and leaped down to land in front of him.

"Here is the first riddle: What creature walks on four legs in the morning, two legs at noon, and three in the evening?"

Keijutsu blinked, before looking at her flatly. "Seriously? That may have been a new one for Oedipus, but it's been a long time since then. The answer is a person- the morning is when they are a baby walking on all fours, noon in the middle of their life, and evening is when they are older and walk with a third leg, a cane."

"Indeed; that was the easy one. Now for the second riddle: A man is looking at a photograph of someone. His friend asks who it is. The man replies, 'Brothers and sisters, I have none. But that man's father is my father's son'. Who is in the photograph?" the Sphinx questioned.

Keijutsu frowned and was silent, thinking. If he had no siblings, then there was no possibly of it being a brother. So, the man holding the picture was indeed his father's son. And if the man holding the picture was the father's son, and the father on the man _in_ the picture was the son of his own father, then the man holding the picture was the father on the man in the picture. Therefore…

"The man in the picture is the son of the man holding the picture," he answered.

The Sphinx smiled. "Nicely done. And now, for the last riddle: What is the truly stupid question?"

Silence.

Keijutsu didn't say anything, trying to think of the answer. His mind immediately to the old adage that there was no such thing as a stupid question, which would mean that the riddle itself was a trick question. But he knew that wasn't true, as there in fact _were_ questions that would be stupid to ask. Questions that you already had the answer to, for instance, or ones that could be answered with little research in less than a minute of time.

However, he suspected that answer wasn't correct either, as that would imply that there were multiple stupid questions, and the riddle asked for only one stupid question. Maybe it was only looking for one _type_ of question, instead of one question in particular. But if so, then what type of question was it? And what was defined as stupid could be subjective, lending another layer of difficulty to the riddle.

The Sphinx's smile grew. "Having trouble answering? Such a shame; I thought you might be one who could actually answer my last riddle." She sighed. "Well, it was fun while it lasted." And with that, she abruptly leapt at him, claws extended.

Keijutsu cried out in surprise and rolled to the side, avoiding the claws. However, he had failed to account for the tail-snake, and it lunged at him before sinking its fangs into his arm. Immediately, he cried out as intense pain Shot through his arm, not just from the bite itself, but from the snake's venom. He channeled a current of electricity through his arm and into the snake, causing it to spam and let him go.

He moved back and looked down at his arm. The pain was the only immediate symptom, it seemed, but there might be other systems that appeared if he didn't recieve treatment. As it was, the Sphinx whirled around and licked her lips. "I tell you, it's been a while since I've gotten to eat a Devil, so this should be an exquisite experience," she said.

"This is hardly fair. You barely gave me any time to think of an answer!" he protested.

Her smile faded. "If you were as smart as you boasted, you would have been able to answer with what little time I gave you. But you didn't and hence you have failed," she declared, before leaping at him again. Rather than roll to the side and get bit again, he instead leaped backwards, using a short burst of magic to increase the length of his jump.

But it seemed the Sphinx could adapt too, as she spread her wings and glided forward, claws raised high. He held up his arms and conjured a barrier, one that her claws struck sparks against. ' _Well, at least she's not totally immune to magic_ ,' he thought. Using what time he had, Keijutsu reached for his watch and tried to call forth any of his inventions. However, after a few seconds, he could sense no change, and cursed. Looks like he was on his own here.

Still, maybe if he found the answer before this Sphinx killed him, she'd relent and let him go. Come on, think! If there was such thing as a stupid question, and only one kind of it, what was the question?

It was at that moment that the Sphinx smashed through his barrier and tried to slice him into ribbons. He barely avoided it, but she still left her mark in the form of several slash marks along his chest. Not only that, but he felt a tingling sensation near his snake bite, and looked down. To his despair, the flesh around the bite was starting to swell, and he could feel himself becoming nauseous.

The Sphinx laughed. "Can you feel it? An adder's venom isn't the most potent of all snakes, but it has a variety of symptoms. Pain and swelling always happen, but if you have a bad reaction to the venom, you can experience nausea, vomiting, loss of consciousness, blindness… the list goes on. And of course, your increased blood flow is only causing the venom to spread faster."

Keijutsu gritted his teeth and tried to ignore her taunting as he tried to come up with an answer. But it seemed she wasn't having any of that, as she charged straight at him. She tried to bite into his neck but he jumped straight upwards, landing on one of the rock outcroppings. The Sphinx spread her wings and jumped after him, but he slammed his fist into the ground and released a wave of compressed of sound.

The wave hit the Sphinx's ears and she shrieked in pain, falling back to ground. Keijutsu panted as he was given another reprieve, even if his own spell had left his ears ringing. ' _Keep thinking. Every question is asked because someone wants to know something. There's nothing wrong with wanting to learn something, which is why there's a belief in a lack of stupid questions. So what kind of question would you ask, seeking to gain knowledge, that is just plain stupid?_ ' he thought.

From beneath, the outcropping shattered as the Sphinx plowed right through it, screaming blood murder. She grabbed his by shoulders, adding new cuts to his growing collections, and threw him towards the ground. He landed on his back and smacked his head against the sand. Above him, he could see her glide towards him, ready for the kill. He tried to raise another barrier, but a sudden bout of lightheadedness left him unable to conjure it in time.

The Sphinx landed right on top of him, and she grinned down at him. "This is the end. Goodbye," he said, and raised her paw one more time. As if in slow motion, Keijutsu could see each claw extend and the killing blow come down. He tried one last time to think of answer, and it was at that instant that he finally saw it.

"The one that has no intention!" he yelled.

The claws stopped a centimeter away from his face, so close he could see each individual hair making up her fur. Slowly, she lowered her pawn and stared down at him. "Go on, she said.

Keijutsu sighed in relief. "Every question should be asked because you want an answer. Whether to increase your knowledge, to confirm something you already believe in, etc. But if you ask a question without intending to get an answer, then you have wasted energy on a pointless endeavor. Spending energy just for the sake of spending it— _that_ is true stupidity, for even not asking a question can be smart if you already know the answer and are sure of it. So, to answer your riddle, the truly stupid question is the one that you ask without intending to get an answer," he explained.

For a moment, there was more silence, and he feared he had actually gotten it wrong. But then he could see the Sphinx begin shaking. That shaking turned into chuckles, and then laughter. "Hehe… Haha… Hahahah ha!" she cackled. She moved back, releasing him, and sat back on her haunches.

As he began to stand up, she said "Congratulations, Keijutsu Hatsume. Every person who I've asked that question, be they Devil, Familiar, even other Sphinxes, always answered it wrong. But you alone have given me the right answer. And for that, I concede defeat."

Keijutsu couldn't keep himself from smiling as well. "So, does that mean you'll become my familiar? Having a being as smart as you would be a great boon to me," he said.

"I suppose I did agree to that, didn't I?" she asked rhetorically. Looking around, she sighed. "I'd grown accustomed to this little habitat, and I admit to being sad to leave it. But I suspect that you'll make my life far more interesting than it would have been had I stayed. So yes, I will become your familiar."

Nodding, Keijutsu spread his arms and fought back another wave of nausea. A pair of grey concentric circles tinged with blue appeared around the Sphinx, with lines of arcane runes between the circles and the Sitri crest in the center. This was his own form of the magic circle, and this was the one he'd use to make her his familiar.

"Then from this day forth, I will live a life as my servant, obeying my word and performing whatever task I assign you. You will forego your old life in favor of a new one as my familiar, to remain as such until one of our lives expires. Do you accept this pack?" he asked.

She nodded. "I accept it. And since this will be my new life, it's only fitting that my master knows my name. It's Fronea," she revealed.

'' _One with common sense'. How fitting_ ,' he thought, before saying "Then, Fronea, I now declare you as may familiar." He brought his hands together in a clap, and the magic circle converged around her, issuing a flash of light before fading. Keijutsu smiled… before falling over as his sense of balance failed him. He could feel his head swimming, and it was suddenly much harder to see.

"Kei!" he heard a voice call, one that sounded like Sona. In fact, from what little he could see, it looked like a group of people had indeed just arrived, and one of them looked remarkably similar to his King. But before he could contemplate it much further, he felt himself beginning to slip away. ' _What were those symptoms? Oh yeah. Pain, swelling, nausea, lightheadedness and, amongst others, loss of consciousness._ '

That was when the world went black.

* * *

 **Well, that ends this latest chapter. I really should be refocusing on my main set of ongoing stories, but when I get the urge to write about something I really like (which is this story) I don't see the point in trying to not do it. The march back towards canon will start next chapter, so look forward to that, and stay tuned!**

 **Also, at least a few of my readers have been wondering how Sona's peerage is currently arranged, so here it is:**

 **King: Sona Sitri**

 **Queen: Tsubaki Shinra**

 **Bishop 1: Momo Hanakai**

 **Bishop 2: Keijutsu Hatsume**

 **Knight 1: Tomoe Meguri**

 **Knight 2: No one yet.**

 **Rook 1: Tsubasa Yura**

 **Rook 2: No one yet.**

 **Pawns 1, 2 and 3: Reya Kusaka**

 **Pawn 4: Ruruko Nimura**

 **Pawns 5, 6, 7 and 8: Genshirou Saji**

 **And so, please review! If you flame me then Bruce Lee will smash you with his nunchaku. (I'm just kidding… or am I?)**


	8. Chapter 8: Progress

Author's Note: I do not own High School DxD or anything affiliated with it. The rights to it belong solely to their respective owners.

* * *

 **Here's another one for ya. This chapter was one that I liked writing mostly because it enabled me to put some more of the ideas I've been having down onto paper, as well as get things ready for future events. Let's start with the replies, and I hope you all enjoy it.**

 **Xbox432: Glad that you approve of the choice. And you're right, Sphinxes are hardly used much in stories around this sight. I never really understood why. And don't worry, Sona will not be handling the situation in that manner.**

 **Guest #1: Thank you.**

 **Frankieu: You'll find out what Sona will do in this chapter. However, whose father are you referring to?**

 **T-B-R: Glad to hear it.**

 **Ahsoei: I checked the part of Season 1 that you mentioned, and there were a lot of mornings where Issei did wake up feeling drained. I always assumed it was because he had been injured the previous night, but it would make sense that Devils would feel drained in the day if they're stronger at night. You're right.**

 **Desdelor97: Well, ask and ye shall receive.**

 **And Panic Reader: Yes, I'll admit that last part was pretty darn cheesy. But I'm glad that you liked the rest of it, and hope you enjoy this chapter as well.**

 **And now, we begin!**

* * *

Chapter 8: Progress

Waking up from being unconscious didn't happen to Keijutsu all the time. However, with all the hazards he took in his experiments, particularly when he was younger and just getting started, it happened often enough that he now had an established procedure for it.

The first step, before he did anything else, was to see if he could remember what had sent him into unconsciousness. This time around, the memories came to him easily. He had been trying to answer a riddle given to him by a Sphinx named Fronea and hadn't been able to come up with one. So, she had tried to kill him for his failure, and he had been able to say the right answer just before she succeeded. For having answered her riddles, she agreed to become his familiar, and then he passed out from some venom he had taken in during the fight.

First step, done. Now the second step was to check if the place he woke up in was the same place he had passed out in. The lack of sand underneath him quickly told him that it wasn't, so that was solved.

Step Three was to see if he could figure out where he was _before_ he opened his eyes. A quick sniff filled his senses with the smell of the air freshener he kept in his bedroom, as well as the scent of linen sheets. Given both of those, it was likely he was in his room. With his eyes still closed, he sent out a single pulse of magical energy, one that bounced off his surroundings before coming back to him like a sonar.

The information gleaned by that pulse further confirmed the suspicion that he was in his bedroom, though it also revealed that there was someone sitting in a chair next to the bed he was in. Listening closer, he could make out the regular sounds of someone breathing, proving that fact. And the final step was for him to try and think of how he had gotten from his passing-out location to his present one.

Now that he thought about it, he was pretty sure someone had arrived on the scene just before he passed out from Fronea's venom, so they were likely the cause. Given that there hadn't been anyone else there besides the Familiar Master and the Student Council, it was likely one of them.

With all that data accumulated, it was only now that he opened his eyes, blinking as he let them adjust to the sunlight coming in from the window. His sight confirmed that, yes, he was in his room, and now he used them to see who it was that was sitting next to him.

Looking over, he nearly spasmed in surprise at seeing that it was _Sona_ who was sitting next to him, and that she was asleep. The magic pulse apparently hadn't been enough to wake her, and it looked as if she had actually been sitting there for quite some time.

While he wondered whether he should wake her up, Keijutsu idly noted that Sona looked rather pretty while sleeping. Her glasses were sitting on the end table next to her, enabling him to see what she looked like without them. The serious and stern expression she usually wore when she was awake was also gone, replaced by one of utter contentment. And there was the fact that she inhaled through her mouth and exhaled through her nose. It was… cute.

Keijutsu blinked. Wait. Did he just describe the ever-strict and always-business Sona Sitri as cute? Where had that come from?

Unfortunately, before he could move further down that line of inquiry, the door to his room opened, and Rasiel walked inside. She stopped once she was that he was awake, and the two of them stared each other for a moment. They blinked once, twice, three times, and then Rasiel yelled "Kei! You're finally awake!" and spun around in joy.

The shouting jolted Sona from her slumber, and she looked around. "What the-? What's going on?!" she said in confusion.

"Oh, you foolish girl! Don't you see? Kei's awake!" Rasiel called, leaping onto the edge of the bed and resuming her twirling.

Sona quickly looked at me, and I smiled. "Good morning, Sona-kaichou. It is morning, right?" I asked.

Sona quickly regained her composure and put on her glasses. "Actually, it's Saturday afternoon. Your reaction to that Sphinx's venom was worse than we thought, and we had to bring you back as soon as possible to heal you. Even so, you've been out of it for an entire day," she explained.

Rasiel giggled. "Indeed. And she's been here the whole time, going back and forth between healing you with her magic and sleeping right in that chair!" she added on.

Sona glared at Rasiel with enough chill to freeze the room several times over, while I hummed. "You used your magic to heal me?" I asked for clarification.

Looking back towards him, she nodded, although it appeared she was surprising a blush while she did. "Yes, I did. It required physical contact for it to work, but rather than use my entire body like someone I know, I… held your hand for several hours…. and channeled my magic into you that way."

For some reason, the idea of him holding hands with Sona, even if he had been unconscious, made a similar blush appear on his cheeks. Thankfully, he was able to fight it into nonexistence quickly enough, and bowed his head. "Then you have my gratitude, Kaichou. Without your help, I would have been in serious trouble."

Sona nodded, but then her expression hardened. "And that leads to my present problem. We were all supposed to stay in one group and wait until Saji obtained his own familiar, and then we'd search for your familiar after that. It was also unsafe for you to go through the forest without Zatouji there to guide you. But you defied both of those postulates, and were nearly killed in the process," she told him sternly.

Keijutsu winced at that. Technically, he had broken the rules by going off on his own. But while he was sorry to have caused Sona any emotional distress, he wasn't about to apologize for trying to satiate his own curiosity. Especially when it was that same curiosity that had given him so much success in his work up to this point.

Neither of them said anything for several moments, Rasiel watching the two of them with interest. Eventually, however, Sona sighed. "Normally, for something like that, I'd give you a punishment consisting of magic-enhanced spankings, or something along those lines. But seeing as you're already bedridden, I'll refrain from that this time." Then her expression softened, and she enabled him to see just some of the fear she had felt for his wellbeing. "Just promise not to worry me like that again, okay?"

' _She was worried about me? As in genuinely worried?_ ' he thought. The thought made him have to keep from smiling, even if he didn't notice it. Out loud, he said "I can promise you that much, yes."

Sona stood up. "Good," she said. Deciding to let the matter go, she turned away and began to leave, saying "You should be fully healed of any effects from the venom by now, so I'll see you tomorrow at school. Oh, and Keijutsu?"

"Yes?" he replied.

Looking back at him, Sona gave him one of her rare genuine smiles. "Congratulations on getting a familiar."

* * *

Keijutsu hummed as he rifled through several books in front of him, trying to glean as much information from him as possible. It was just after school had ended, and he was seated near the back of the library. That meant that there were virtually no other students around besides himself, giving him total peace and quiet.

Seated on the ground next to him was Fronea, though the Sphinx appeared to be only the size of a housecat instead of being large as she had been when he had made her his familiar. According to her, becoming a familiar gave her the ability to change into two other forms, one of which was a human and the other being a smaller version of her usual appearance. He had summoned her so that he could have someone to bounce ideas off of, as well as to give her a chance to stretch her legs.

"Hmm… so not only does the human brain consist of over a hundred-billion neurons, but each of them are connected to thousands of other neurons via synapses, forming over a trillion connections in total. Interesting…" he read aloud.

Fronea nodded. "Exact. The subconscious mind performs countless calculations whenever we so much as look at something, outstripping even the most advanced supercomputers in terms of performance. Yet, in doing all this, it only generates enough heat to cook a hamburger," she told him.

The young Devil groaned. "I know that replicating the body from scratch would be difficult. The fact it took nature millions of years of random mutations to arrive at its current design should have been proof enough. But now that I'm actually trying, I'm starting to fully appreciate how complex my species is," he said. Then, after a moment of silence, he grunted. "Well, my _former_ species. Can't forget that I traded away my humanity in exchange for a longer life," he added aloud.

"Exactly why are you trying to create a human body, anyway? I'd be interested in hearing it," she said, looking up at him from her spot on the floor.

For a moment, Keijutsu pondered whether or not to tell her of his latest idea. There wasn't much harm in it. If anything, her advice could give him valuable information since she would be looking at it from a different perspective than him. His mind made up, he said "You remember how I told you I was trying to use magic to recreate a Sacred Gear, correct?"

When the Sphinx nodded, he continued "That experiment was meant to help answer a larger question of mine. I've become frustrated by the lack of progress that has been made in magic over the last several centuries, especially in regard to its limits. So, I've set out to see what it is that I can and can't do with magic. However, my work into Sacred Gears is currently at a standstill, so I've decided to temporarily switch my focus to another question."

Fronea thought about that, and stood up. She jumped onto the table and sat at the other end of it, flooding her wings against her back. "And that question has something to do with 'making' a human body?" she asked.

"Exactly. I want to see whether or not I can use magic to create intelligent human life, and I'm planning on trying to synthesize a human body to test this. However, like I said, that's turning out to be much more complicated than I originally planned," Keijutsu said.

Fronea didn't have a response to that, and so she sat there and resumed her attempt to relax. Keijutsu, meanwhile, continued to contemplate how to go through with his experiment.

The two of them lapsed into a comfortable silence. Both of them didn't mind each other's company, and in fact found it to be rather pleasant. Keijutsu was glad to be around someone who he could see eye-to-eye with, and Fronea found any conversation she had with him to be refreshing and interesting.

Actually, now that he had mentioned his plans to her, Fronea was now trying to think of ways in which his experiment could proceed. In fact, an idea soon came to her, one that she chose to vocalize. "Maybe you're going about it the wrong way. Instead of trying to work from the bottom up, maybe you could take the top-down approach."

Keijutsu looked up from the neurology book he was still reading. "Top-down approach?"

"Yes. Instead of trying to start from nothing, you could gather several human bodies and, through meticulous inspection and effort, recreate one piece by piece. That way you would be able to have several subjects to test your design against, as well as gather more data before beginning," she explained.

He hummed. That wasn't a bad idea. If he _could_ obtain about three or four bodies, he'd be able to gather enough information about their make-up before he could start making his own. Ideally, they would be bodies of the same gender and around the same age-group in order for his data to have consistency. But the idea did have a problem.

"Where would I be able to get these bodies? No mortuary or university would just hand me a set of corpses with no questions asked, and they'd laugh in my face if I told them I was planning on using them to study magic," he said.

Fronea frowned, conceding the point. He was right. While there might have been ways for him to obtain a set of human bodies, there wouldn't be any way for him to _legally_ do it without raising all sorts of red flags with the human authorities. And that was an annoyance neither of them wanted to deal with.

Speaking of annoyances…. "While I'm thinking about it, who exactly was that girl in your apartment, the one with the eyepatch? She was the one who let your King in after you made our pact, but refused to tell me anything other than her name and that she lived here with you. Is she your sister or something?" she asked.

"My sister?" Keijutsu repeated. When she nodded, he laughed. "Goodness, no. If Rasiel was my sister, we'd have probably driven each other insane by now. No, I am her Keykeeper," he stated.

Fronea raised her eyebrows. "Keykeeper? What is that supposed to be?"

Keijutsu sighed and sat back, knowing that this explanation would take a moment. "Tell me, are you familiar with the story 'The World Inside the Gourd'?" he asked.

"To some extent, yes. An ancient Chinese medicine man carries a magic gourd with him. Night after night, he can jump inside the gourd, and each time he does he enters an entire other world that is kept inside it. But what does that have to do with this girl?" she replied.

"I'm getting to that. Now, how familiar are you with the concept of Phantom Books?" Keijutsu questioned.

She was silent, thinking. After a moment, she said "Not particularly. What are they?"

Sitting up, Keijutsu explained "Phantom Books are books that contain an extremely diverse range of mystical powers, and can do anything from conjuring barriers to temporarily raising the dead. They can grant these powers to whoever reads them, but will only do if that person is the Book's rightful owner. If someone besides the rightful owner tried to use them, it will create all sorts of misfortune and disaster for the user."

"Now, imagine that you are a supernatural being of incredible knowledge, one who possesses an entire library of such Phantom Books at their disposal. In order to keep these books preserved and from falling into the wrong hands, you would need an actual library to keep them in. But no ordinary building, no matter how well-constructed, could never hold the collective magical power of so many texts. Furthermore, you would need someone who can keep an eye on the books, and act as their custodian to make sure they are kept in good condition. So, why not have the library and the custodian be one and the same?"

Fronea frowned. "The same? You mean have the custodian of the Phantom Books actually _be_ the library itself? How would you even do that?" she asked.

"Like I said, the Phantom Books have a wide variety of powers, even ones that can change reality and break the laws of causality. So it would be possible to create a being that could serve as a living 'vase-world' in which a collection of Phantom Books can be stored, just like the medicine man kept an entire world inside his gourd," Keijutsu pointed out to her.

She was silent, processing all this information, before it suddenly clicked and she conjured a mental image of Rasiel in her head. The little girl did look normal for a human on an all accounts, save for her metal eyepatch. And the design of a keyhole on it.

"You mean to say that… that girl is…?" she managed to say.

Keijutsu nodded. "There are, to the best of my knowledge, three such libraries in existence, each of them overseen by their own 'Biblioprincess'. There is the Silver Biblioprincess, who oversees the Long-Lost Library and whose currently location is, rather ironically, unknown. Then there is the Black Biblioprincess, who oversees the Mystic Archives of Dantalian and was last seen living in England," he said.

Suddenly imagining the little girl in a new light, Fronea asked "And what kind of library does Rasiel contain?"

"Rasiel's title is the Red Biblioprincess, and she presides over the Library of the Archangel Raziel. According to her, it contains the 'supreme mystery that no human could ever reach'," he told her.

If it was possible, Fronea's eyes went even wider. Raziel was a name she was very familiar with, and not just he was a prominent figure among the other angels. Raziel was the angel who presided over turning knowledge into practical wisdom, something she could readily respect, and who helped humans ply their knowledge until it became spiritualized and second-nature to them.

And this little girl living with Keijutsu was supposed to contain the angel's entire library of knowledge, including all the knowledge regarding Heaven itself? She could hardly believe it. However, despite her shock, she couldn't help but notice something. "You never said what it meant to be her 'Keykeeper'," she said.

"Well, while the Biblioprincesses can look after the libraries and ensure that the Phantom Books are kept in good condition, they aren't so well-skilled at protecting themselves. So, each of them can choose one being to serve as their bodyguard and protector. That person swears an oath to protect the Biblioprincess who chooses them, even if it means risking their own life. And in exchange, they can use the Phantom Books in the library as if they were the true owners. That person is thereafter known as their Keykeeper."

Fronea looked at him. So not only did Rasiel hold the Archangel Raziel's entire library, but he was able to access it because he swore an oath to protect her? Just the idea of having all that knowledge and power at one's fingertips was enough to make her actively avoid salivating. And Keijutsu was able to avoid succumbing to that temptation? Her respect for him rose just that little bit.

While the young Sphinx was going over everything she had learned, Keijutsu had returned to thinking about his research. After pondering it further, he realized that there was something to Fronea's proposal. The idea of him having a preexisting blueprint for him to work off in making a human body was an attractive one. And while he wouldn't be able to use a set of corpses to make a physical blueprint… there already existed a biological one.

The biological blueprint for the human body was something each human possessed hundreds of copies of, encoded into their genome. And further copies were in fact already ready for use—they were inside the reproductive cells. The body itself was formed from the union of two of these cells, the sperm and the egg, which both carried parts of their maker's genome that then combined with the other to form a new set of genes. If he could use magic to replicate these two cells and one successfully fertilized the other, then that would solve the issue of how to make a human body.

He would be, in essence, copying what nature had already been doing, but he didn't really see a problem with that. Why try to fix something that wasn't broken? And in this way, the question of "Could magic be used to make a human body?" could be reduced to a question of "Could magic be used to synthesize human reproductive cells?". And that was much more possible than trying to make the entire body at once. Of course, if he did go down that route he would, by definition, have to wait several years for him to check if there were any deficiencies in the synthesizing process.

While the idea of waiting several years to see if his experiment would work wasn't so much of an issue now that he was a Devil, he still retained a human's sense of urgency. If there was a way to accelerate the growth process of the body once he made it, then he could obtain results more rapidly.

But then an idea hit him. His watch, and its function as a device that could repair objects by manipulating entropy. He had been able to use it to repair the Bastet necklace for that museum professor, but it had always failed whenever he tried to make a living being younger with it. Instead… it made them older.

' _Could I change it so that the device could actually make the target exponentially older, cutting the fraction of time required for them to mature by years? Would that even be possible?_ ' he thought, feeling himself grow more energetic by the moment.

"I have to run more tests!" he shouted, standing up quickly and startling Fronea.

"More tests? What do you mean? Did you think of something?" she asked.

Smiling widely at her, he said "Yes, I have, and it was thanks to your suggestion that I was able to come up with it. Thank you!" Before she could react, he reached over and actually hugged her from excitement, before rushing out the door.

Fronea sat there for a seconded stunned. A human had hugged her. She wasn't sure if she should be more please or revolted. But then she noticed that he was gone, and yelled "Hey! Don't leave me here, you idiot!" and flew after him.

* * *

 **One week later…**

The white-haired Artificer stood in front of a small room in his underground lab. Set off to the side, the room featured a small metal table, a sink, a closest where a suit of hazard suits were stores, and a computer. There was a large window that made up one of the walls, a window that had been magically reinforced to withstand anything short of a blast from a tank.

On the other side of the window was a clean room composed of a sterilized metal walls, another metal table, and a currently inactive golem that he could control from the outside. The entire room was something he had constructed months ago when he had started working with volatile chemicals in order for him to test them without blowing himself up. It was also where he was performing his latest experiment.

A regular pocket watch was placed on the table next to a cage containing a trio of small tadpoles, each on their own petri dish. The pocket watch was his first model designed to test his new idea of using entropy-manipulation to artificially induce aging, and these tadpoles would be his lab rats. Of course, he had no reason to believe that he would get the design right on the first try, but he could certainly hope he did.

If both the device's design and his theory were correct, then once he had the golem activate the watch he could watch the tadpoles rapidly grow into adult toads, and he could move to testing the idea on more sophisticated animals, like rats. And once he had established that he could use entropy-manipulation to induce aging, he could see about synthesizing reproductive cells.

Taking out an old-fashioned tape recorder, he said "Keijutsu Hatsume, Experiment Log. I am about to begin testing on the first prototype of a device that will cause accelerated aging in a biological organism by rapidly increasing the net entropy of both the organism and its surrounding within an isolated space. To begin shortly."

He put away the recorder and held his arm out towards the golem. An array of seals appeared on his arm, and the mechanical creature jerked its head up and stood straight. Keijutsu moved his arm downwards and the golem copied the action, grabbing the stop watch and picking it up. He pressed down on an imaginary button in his hand, and the golem pressed the button on top of the watch that enabled it to open.

Then he willed the golem to push down on the face of the watch with its other hand, and placed it back on the table before stepped away. After a few seconds delay, the hands on the watch began spinning and it glowed a light blue. That blue spread outwards in the shape of a sphere, which grew until it contained both the watch and the tadpoles.

Keijutsu nodded. The isolation sphere looked like it was working, so that was good. He was already getting readings from the army of sensors he had placed inside the room, an avalanche of data that he would enjoy going through once the test was done.

The hands on the watch began spinning faster, and the air within the sphere began to shimmer as its temperature was increased. After a few seconds, the tadpole began flailing around, and started to grow larger.

Taking a quick look at his notes, he concluded that, given the usual rate it took for male Japanese common toads to reach sexual maturity as well as the age acceleration brought about by the device, they should reach be fully in about twelve hours.

Just as he was prepared to set himself down to wait for when the results came in, he felt a spike in energy coming from inside the room and looked again. The isolation sphere appeared to have been warped and twisted around in several places, while the thermometer he had placed inside picked up an increase in the room's temperature.

His eyes widened. "That's not good," he said aloud. The isolation sphere was starting to destabilize, which meant that any entropy being create inside would start leaking out. The temperature continued to rise, and the isolation sphere started to bend more violently. The tadpole appeared to start panicking as well, even as they started sprouting legs.

The stop watch began wobbling and started glowing as it heated up as well, some of the heat being absorbed by the metal. The more heat it drew in, the more unstable the sphere became and the more heat was generated inside.

"That's not good at all. It's started a feedback loop!" Keijutsu said. The amount of energy the device was giving off and its instability were being increased by each other, spiraling out of his control. He held out his arm and reestablished control over the golem. Quickly, he ordered it to breach the isolation sphere and deactivate the watch.

But just as it stuck its hand into the sphere, the energy readings from his sensors spiked and the temperature jumped by nearly a factor of ten. The tadpoles burst into flames almost immediately, and the stopwatch actually began to melt. The golem's own hand began glowing red hot, but it ignored that in favor of still trying to deactivate the watch. And the isolation sphere looked ready to burst.

"Shit!" Keijutsu called, and covered his eyes with his arms. He braced himself just before the sphere finally failed and released all the heat and pressure inside one massive explosion, equal in magnitude a kilogram of flash powder.

The blast shook the room and would have potentially damaged his eyesight, had he not covered them. After waiting a few seconds for any potential smoke to clear, he lowered his arms and looked inside.

The testing room was completely trashed. Streaks of soot covered the walls and the table had been broken in half, one end on either side of the room. What was left of his golem was lying against the window, smoldering and twitching every so often. And he couldn't even make out what was left of either the stopwatch or the tadpoles.

Keijutsu sighed, and pulled out the tape recorder. "Conclusion to previous entry: The test ended in abject failure. An unknown design flaw with the prototype caused instability in the isolation sphere as well as an excess amount of heat beyond requirements. The heating of the prototype in turn facilitated further instability, establishing a positive feedback loop that concluded with the destruction of both the prototype and the test subjects, as well as severe damage to the testing area. End log."

Running a hand through his hair, he ended the recording. He knew he shouldn't have gotten his hopes up that it would work with the first model. Very rarely, if ever, did any first design ever work. ' _Looks like it's back to the drawing board_ ,' he thought.

But just then, he received a call on his cell phone. Grunting in surprise, he fished it out of the front pocket of his lab coat, only to raise an eyebrow at the number. It was Sona.

Deciding to answer it, he said "This is Keijutsu Hatusme."

" _Keijutsu, I'm glad I was able to reach you. I need you to head for the school immediately and meet me in the Student Council room_ ," Sona told him.

He blinked. "This sounds important. Did something happen?" he asked.

" _More or less. Rias and her peerage are going to participate in a Rating Game in a matter of hours. I need you here with the rest of the Council when it begins_."

* * *

 **That wraps up this chapter. Not as much fighting in this one, but definitely further progress, and we'll obviously see some of canon in the next chapter. Plus, you got learn more about who and what Rasiel is, so there's that too. Stay tuned for the next chapter!**

 **Please review! If you flame me then Bruce Lee will smash you with his nunchaku. (I'm just kidding… or am I?)**


	9. Chapter 9: The Engagement

Author's Note: I do not own High School DxD or anything affiliated with it. The rights to it belong solely to their respective owners.

* * *

 **Well, here's the latest chapter, up and posted. Not as much action in this one, as it mainly covers the Rating Game and engagement party, not to mention that fact that I was only able to work on this piece by piece instead of in large chunks like I usually do. Still, I hope you all enjoy it. But first, the replies!**

 **Frankieu: The idea of using the age accelerator as a weapon did cross my mind. And while I didn't plan on that, I** _ **might**_ **implement it in some way in the future.**

 **Desdelor97, carwash36: Thank you for your kind words.**

 **Squadpunk 2.0: Indeed. And these will not be the first frogs to suffer such a fate.**

 **JaredDrake: If you're referring to Homunculi such as the ones from Fullmetal Alchemist, then no, they haven't.**

 **Guest: You have raised a valid point, one that I intend to clarify in the next chapter.**

 **Xbox432: I looked up Slaad after you said that, and you're right, it is an amusing daydream. Keijutsu will have his own commentary regarding Rias and Riser's moves, which you'll see here. And while he does not realize the implications of his approach right now, it will be made clear to him soon.**

 **Avidra: I have made it pretty clear in the past as to why Keijutsu chose to become a Devil. If his reasons for it do not satisfy you, you are free to no longer read this story. And no, I have no intentions of dying.**

 **Lolo John: Sona started with the 4-Move Checkmate as a small test to see whether or not Keijutsu was bluffing. If he had been bluffing about being a good chess player, he would have fallen for one of the simplest moves in chess. But he didn't fall it, and that convinced her to actually start taking him seriously.**

 **Lazyguy90: I'm glad that you like thw way I've written the dialogue between Sona and Keijutsu. It's been interesting, trying to find the right balance between writing what I imagine in my head and making it realistic. As for seeing more of his work, that will definitely be done in the next chapter.**

* * *

Chapter 9: The Engagement

Keijutsu hummed as he sat back in his chair. "Would you remind me as to the function of these Rating Games again?" he asked. He and the rest of the Student Council were seated before several large television screens, each of which showing nothing but static. The other members of the peerage were waiting patiently for the Rating Game to begin, but until then they could do other things.

Like trying to use their gaze to burn a hole into the back of someone's head, which Saji was trying to do to him. It seemed he was still on the Pawn's bad side.

Sona sighed. "The Rating Game is a form of competition between two Devils that have peerages. It involves the peerages combating against each other in a simulated environment. The Kings try to outmaneuver each other, similar to two chess players, and it ends when the King for one side either surrenders or is unable to compete any further and is 'retired' from the game. And for the Devils involved, it is one of the fastest ways possible to gain notoriety and social standing in the Underworld," she explained.

Keijutsu nodded. "So that's what we'll be watching today? A faux battle between Rias-san and another Devil?"

"Yes, but there's more to this case. Rias's opponent is a man she's currently engaged to marry, Riser Phenex. But she doesn't wish to marry him, and Riser has agreed to a Rating Game where, if he loses, Rias will no longer be bound by their marriage contract," Sona said.

Keijutsu looked at her for a moment, before smiling slightly. "Just like how you got out of your marriage contract by thrashing your fiancé at chess, huh?"

Sona didn't look at him, but he could tell that she was also amused by the comparison. "Very similar, yes. And it will be my job to oversee the Rating Game from here to ensure that there is no foul play involved."

It was at that moment that the static on the screens vanished, and were replaced by images of… Kuoh Academy?

Keijutsu blinked, but before he could comment on why the simulated environment looked like their school, a voice spoke out. " _May I have your attention, please? This is Grayfia Lucifuge, a servant of the House of Gremory. I will serve as the announcer and referee for this Rating Game, which I welcome you all to enjoy._ "

" _The environment for this event was made after taking suggestions from both Rias Gremory and Riser Phenex, and had been made into a replica of Kuoh Academy, an educational institution in the human world that Rias-sama attends. The designated territories for each team will be as follows: Rias-sama will have the Occult Research Clubroom in the Old Schoolhouse, while Rias-sama will have the principal's office in the New Schoolhouse._ "

" _And now, without further delay, let the Rating Game begin. Good luck to you all_."

Sona looked over at Tsubaki. "Show me Riser," she ordered, and the glasses-wearing Queen did just that. One of the screens switched to a feed from the principal's office, giving Keijutsu and their first look at Rias's opponent.

As far as appearances went, Riser Phenex could be worse. He looked relatively young, only in his mid-20's, if Keijutsu had to guess. He was tall and had tanned skin that went well with his short blonde hair and dark blue eyes. And he was wearing a burgundy blazer with matching pants, a white dress shirt that was partially unbuttoned, and black dress shoes. All in all, he fit the stereotypical 'rich bad boy' image.

An image that was not helped by them hearing Riser say " _Show my fiancé and her group of weaklings no mercy. Shatter their pride, crush their sprits, and make them submit to us. If we don't, this whole show is pointless_."

"He's a real piece of work, huh?" Saji said, much to their agreement of everyone else.

From then on, there was little talk as the Rating Game started to get going. Keijutsu pondered over what Rias would do, since she was at a disadvantage in terms of both numbers and experience. Her first move, as it turned out, was to fortify their home base by laying a series of magical traps and illusions in the woods surrounding them. A sound strategy, he had to admit.

Riser, meanwhile, was taking full advantage of his greater number of servants to break them up into groups and have each one sent to various key points around the campus. He set a group up near the track field, at the athletics club, and sent a smaller party to try and probe Rias's defenses.

"Do you think Rias will use an indirect assault on Riser?" Tsubasa asked.

Sona nodded. "If she wants to push forward and keep her territory secure, she'll have no choice. The question is where she's going to send them first, and whether or not Riser has sent anyone there as well."

Keijutsu hummed. "If I had to make a decision, I'd say to simply move right across the school grounds," he said.

Both Sona and Tsubaki looked at him like he was insane. "Why would you suggest something like that? If they do, they'll be right out in the open, and could be surrounded with nothing to use as cover," Tsubaki pointed out.

Keijutsu nodded, and said "True, it would be the most foolish choice to take. Just charging straight in poses all kinds of dangers, but it has one key element: Riser would never expect it. If he's smart enough, he'll be expecting Riser to use deception just like we are."

Momo gasped, and her eyes widened. Picking up where he left off, she said "In fact, he's already spread out his forces in a way that anticipates that. But if Rias were to use the most direct method available, he'd have to recall his forces before he could respond to her properly, giving Rias precious time to dig deep."

"Exactly. If this is supposed to be a simulation of warfare, then you have to follow the rules of war. And one of the biggest rules is to always act contrary to the way your opponent perceives you to," Keijutsu said, sitting back.

Despite that, it turned out that Rias had something alike but different in mind. Rather than charge straight in, she chose to send Issei and Koneko to capture the gymnasium. It was a relatively smart move, as the gym's location in the center of the campus made it a good staging point for future assaults.

But Riser was thinking the same thing, and had sent his own Rook along with three Pawns. And while that fight was going on, he had another group, one made solely out of a trio of Pawns, try and navigate through the woods until they were close enough to be promoted.

The next part of the Rating Game consisted mostly of the battle at the gym. The two opposing Rooks duked it out while Issei avoided being sliced to pieces by the others. And in this case, that expression was literal, since two of them were carrying chainsaws.

However, in turned out that Issei was much more skilled than they had expected. He was able to avoid getting injured by all three of the Pawns, save for one time when he got blasted into a wall. He also landed glancing blows on each of them, going so far as the break the blue-haired girl's staff in half when she tried to hit him with a burst of wind magic.

"Not bad," Reya commented.

But she swiftly found herself regretting complimenting him when they heard Issei call " _And now, it's time… to get naked!_ " and he snapped his fingers. A small seal appeared over the spots where Issei had made contact with each girl, and then their entire outfits began glowing.

Keijutsu's eyes widened. "I knew he was a pervert, but did he really invent a move to-"

Then the girls' outfits literally burst into shreds, eliciting screams of surprise and horror from all three of them.

"…He did," Keijutsu finished, hanging his head.

On screen, Issei laughed and stuck a pose. " _Ha! You girls like that? Ever since I was a kid, I've always undressed girls with my eyes, but now all I have to do is wish it and it happens for real! Try and mess with me, and you can kiss your clothes goodbye!_ " he boasted.

Tsubaki removed her glasses in order for her to pinch the bridge of her nose. "That boy… is a freak," she stated.

Sona's expression was just as deadpan as everyone else's, but she said, "You never know; maybe this 'Dress Break' thing will work. After all, nothing stops a girl like having her clothes magically ripped off."

Then Issei went into a long-winded speech about how he couldn't have perfected the spell without the help of Asia, and that it took countless tries on many outfits in order for him to get it right. Keijutsu avoided the temptation to join Saji in smashing his head against the table, even though it was sorely tempting.

Thankfully, once the speech was over, they were quick to leave. They didn't even finish the girls off, leaving them there. Just as Keijutsu was about to question the wisdom of such a move, they saw Akeno conjure a massive bolt of lightning that completely obliterated the entire building.

" _Three of Riser-sama's_ _Pawns_ _and one of Riser-sama's_ _Rooks_ _have just been retired_ ," Grayfia announced.

Ruruko leaned forward. "Wait a minute. The whole bit of trying to capture the gym was a trap?" she asked.

"It looks like that's the case. She had Issei and Koneko act as bait to draw part of Riser's forces in, and then kept them there long enough for Akeno to blow the whole thing apart. With all four girls gone, Riser's lost a whole quarter of his forces," Tomoe said.

"Yeah, that's cool. But now that Rias has taken the offensive, won't Riser have to retaliate?" Saji asked, lifting his head up.

"Indeed, he will. And while Rias did just take a chunk out of his forces, they're still outnumbered two-to-one. This could get ugly very quickly," Sona said.

And get ugly it did. Only a few minutes after the gym was destroyed, Koneko and Issei were attacked on their way to the athletics' club. They never saw it coming. One minute they were just walking, then Koneko was enveloped in an orange magic circle and the ground underneath her exploded.

The fault quickly was realized to lie with Riser's Queen, a busty woman who could apparently use her spells to create magical explosions. Koneko had already been somewhat tired from fighting Xuelan, and taking the blast at point-blank range had been enough to completely finish her.

" _Rias-sama's_ _Rook_ _has been retired_."

Ignoring Grayfia's announcement, Issei had been about to attack Yubelluna without a second thought when Akeno intervened. She sent Issei away to continue trying to reach Kiba, while she attacked Yubelluna in a Queen versus Queen spell-fight.

"Now would be the proper time to retreat, don't you think?" Keijutsu thought aloud.

"Probably. Rias's plan had been built with having all of her pieces in mind and would work before Riser sent his Queen out. But now that plan has been subverted, so she should be falling back to come up with a new one. Instead, it looks like she's going to keep pushing," Sona said.

They heard that the three Pawns Riser had sent through the woods had been defeated, bringing the numbers down to nine against five. Not quite two-on-one, but still not looking good. Then Issei met up with Kiba and the two of them switched direction, heading towards the track field. Rias also quickly vacated the Old Schoolhouse with Asia in tow, stealthily moving across the school grounds.

' _A sneak attack? As long as those two can draw_ all _of Riser's servants to them, that might work. But if even one doesn't fall for it and realizes that Rias's home base in unguarded, they're in real trouble_ ,' Keijutsu thought.

To his immense surprise, Riser did actually fall for it, and sent all of his other Pieces to the track field. The first one to arrive was, unsurprisingly, a Knight, one whom Kiba quickly engaged in combat. But that left Issei alone against another Knight, the other Rook, two Pawns and two Bishops.

Not that either of the Bishops, one them being a younger girl with blonde hair in drill-like pigtails and a pink dress, had any intention of participating. Apparently, she was Riser's younger sister, Ravel Phenex, and was a part of his peerage simply to avoid being bored. And the other Bishop, Mihae, was a pacifist that would only join in if there was a real need for it. So, really, it only four against one instead of six against one.

But rather than attack Issei all at once and overwhelm him, which Keijutsu considered to be the wiser move, they let the Isabella the Rook attack Issei by herself at the start. That gave him the time needed to use his **Boosted Gear** two more times, for a total of six boosts. Which mean that his power—Keijutsu did a quick calculation in his head—was sixty-four times as much as what it had been when the Rating Game started. And that in turn gave him the strength needed to defeat Isabella.

Meanwhile, Rias and Asia had managed to infiltrate the New Schoolhouse, only to find Riser waiting for them. They retreated, but he followed them out onto the roof of the building. " _So, you knew that I was planning this?_ " they heard Rias asked.

Riser smirked. " _A virgin fighter like you should never underestimate someone as experienced as I_ ," he told her, making Keijutsu roll his eyes at the blonde's blatant vulgarity. He and Rias started shooting blasts of fire and Power of Destruction at each other, causing large explosions and more than a little damage to their surroundings.

At the same time, Kiba was still fighting Karlamine, and the others were still fighting Issei. Only now did they start attacking together, first with a two-sided assault by the cat-girls Ni and Li, and then Siris tried to cleave him in two with her massive sword. He managed to hold his own long enough to boost twice more. ' _Now his strength is what is was initially, multiplied by 256. I'll admit, that_ _ **Boosted Gear**_ _is something to be feared_ ," Keijutsu thought.

And then Issei revealed something else he hadn't known about the Sacred Gear—it could transfer the immense power it collected to other people and attacks. He did just that by transferring all his power to Kiba's **Sword Birth** Sacred Gear, causing the entire track field to be reshaped as countless different types of swords burst from the ground.

Ravel was able to avoid it just in time by creating a pair of wings made of fire and taking to the air. But the others didn't have that ability and was skewered several times over by the many blades. Karlamine managed to hold for just a few seconds, long enough to mutter " _I don't believe this…_ " before she faded away.

" _Two of Riser-sama's_ _Pawns_ _, two of Riser-sama's_ _Knights_ _and one of Riser-sama's_ _Bishops_ _have been retired_ ," Grayfia declared.

Issei cheered for their victory. Things were starting to look back up for them.

Only to have that victory snatched away seconds later. A large explosion occurred just away from the track field, and a column of smoke rose into the air. From that smoke emerged Akeno, who fell to the ground and vanished just before she could crash-land. Another explosion went off just behind Issei a few seconds later, taking out Kiba as well.

" _Rias-sama's_ _Queen_ _and Rias-sama's_ _Knight_ _have been retired."_

And from there, it all went downhill. Issei was able to make it to the New Schoolhouse and promote himself to Queen, evening things out in terms who had had what pieces.

But he was already near his limit, as was Rias. And with those Phoenix Tears that Riser's peerage were carrying, Yubelluna was as good as new. The busty bomber was able to incapacitate Asia, and then Issei finally reached the end of his rope when the **Boosted Gear** activated for the tenth time, making his strength over a thousand times greater… and then immediately deactivated, taking all of his strength with it.

Still, Issei refused to stop fighting. Fed up with his tenacity, Riser started pummeling Issei faster than he could defend himself, yelling " _You don't know when to quit!_ " Just before Riser could fry the brown-haired pervert alive and potentially kill him, Rias stopped him and tearfully surrendered, pleading with the blonde to let Issei go.

And thus, the Rating Game ended.

* * *

 **A few days later…**

Following the result of the Rating Game, the Houses of Gremory and Phenex had chosen to host an engagement party to celebrate the union of their Houses. Devils of all kinds had been invited to attend, and it was shaping up to be one of the biggest events in the Underworld in a long time.

As the heiress to a prominent House as well, Sona had been invited to the party, and her peerage, by extension, allowed to come as well.

' _This is one of the few times I will ever allow myself to be in a suit_ ,' Keijutsu thought sourly. He was currently wearing a black tuxedo jacket with a light gray button-up undershirt, blank pants, black dress shoes, and a purple tie that was the same color as his eyes.

All around him, he could feel the looks from a couple of other devils as they appreciated how he looked, as well as the other members of the Student Council. Several of the girls were in nice, form-fitting dresses that looked like they had come straight from top models, a sign of just how much they were worth. While Saji was dressed in a similar tuxedo to him, though his was only black and white.

Said Pawn was being cornered by Ruruko and Momo, who were trying to get his opinion on their dresses and how he felt they looked. The poor blonde looked like he was ready to faint from how many times either of them pressed against him, whispering sweet nothing in his ears and not hiding their attraction to him at all.

Deciding to leave Saji to his fortunate fate, Keijutsu looked around the room. Music from an unseen source drifted through the air, and almost everyone had a glass in their hand while talking politely with their companions. Off to one corner, Ravel was boasting about the results of the game to several guests, doing a rather fine job of buttering up her family's skill while the rest of Riser's peerage stood around her.

To be frank, everything about the scene—the pageantry, the feigned politeness, all of it—annoyed him. Politics in general was something he tried to avoid, much preferring the honest and true setting of the laboratory. But regardless of his personal preferences, he knew that not having one of her servants appear would have looked bad for Sona. So, he swallowed his pride, and stayed.

"She's delightful, isn't she?" he heard a voice say, and turned around. To his surprise, it was Kiba who had spoken up, and was standing with Akeno and Koneko.

The Knight smiled. "You're Keijutsu, Sona's newest servant, right? It's a pleasure to meet you," he said, extending his hand.

After a moment's hesitation—that smile looked too wide to be real—Keijutsu shook his hand. "The pleasure is shared, Yuuto-san. And yes, it would seem that Riser's sister does have quite a mouth on her," he replied.

"Well said," he heard another voice say, and looked behind him again. And froze stiff.

It was Sona, but that wasn't what had caught him off guard. What caught him off guard was that she was wearing a dress. It was blue in color and consisted first of a skirt that reached her knees. Then there was a white undershirt on top, over which was a gossamer blue shawl held up in the front by a knot that used a similar material but of a lighter blue than the rest. The shawl and undershirt left her shoulders and part of her chest and back uncovered, showing only the slightest amount of cleavage. A small necklace with an oval-shaped jewel that matched her eye color completed the outfit.

All in all, she looked… absolutely stunning.

Keijutsu simply stared for a moment, taking in the view before him while his mind attempted to restart itself. He had acknowledged that Sona's appearance was attractive from the first time they met, but until now he had always placed that in the back of his mind in favor of focusing on her words and mind. But now, for all his intelligence, he could do nothing but gape like a fish at the sight of her.

Thankfully, Kiba spoke for him, saving the Artificer from making a fool of himself without even realizing it. "Sona-san, it's good to see you," he said.

Sona looked towards Ravel. "It is a shame; I do wish that Rias had won. And despite all the holes in her strategy and the gambles she took, she put up a valiant effort. Especially for it being her first time," she said.

Akeno smiled demurely, hands folded in front of her kimono. "Thanks for the support. But this fight is far from over," she declared.

When Sona gave them a questioning look, Kiba said "Oh, we just mean that we'll get another shot at them soon enough. And this time, we'll be ready for any tricks they come up with."

Koneko added "Yeah. Screw those douchebags," and took a sip of her drink.

Sona nodded, and looked over at her Bishop. "What do you think, Kei-san?" she asked.

Blinking slowly, Keijutsu finally willed his mind to snap back into focus, and he said, "I think I need a drink!" Without another word, he executed a one-eighty degree turn and stiffly marched away, leaving Sona and the others to look at him with confusion.

Once he was far enough away, he sighed. Just what the hell had that been all about? He was not the kind of person to become all googly-eyed after seeing some pretty girl in a nice dress, he reminded himself. But then another, more traitorous part of his mind pointed out that Sona was not just 'some pretty girl'. She was an intelligent, assertive and beautiful young woman that he personally knew. And that her dress wasn't just 'nice', it was fantastic.

Shaking his head to try and rid himself of these thoughts, Keijutsu approached the drink table and had to refrain from staring. The centerpiece of the table was a normally something like an elaborate ice sculpture of a goose or swan. But here, it was a statue of a great phoenix with its wings spread. And instead of ice, it was made of fire.

Taking a drink from next to the statue, he noted that the fire was completely self-contained and gave off no heat, not even when he out his hand right next to it. Another strange use of magic, one that he'd love to examine if he had the chance. Such was his distraction that he barely even noticed when another Devil walked up to stand right next to him.

Indeed, he didn't even acknowledge other presence of said Devil until he spoke. "A most interesting statue. Are you awed by its craftsmanship, or bored by its ostentatiousness?"

Looking over at him from the corner of his eyes, Keijutsu noticed immediately that, for a Devil, he looked remarkably human, both in appearance and energy signature. He had short black hair that was kept close to the skull, with dark brown eyes. His slightly tanned skin tone spoke of someone that didn't spend much time outdoors, but did so enough to not be a recluse. And within his eyes was spark of… something, but that 'something' was, he couldn't put his finger on.

Deciding to answer the question he had been given, he said "I suppose you could say it's both. The skill required to create a self-containing, heatless statue made of fire is something I can appreciate. But you're right; even for an engagement party, it is rather excessive."

The man nodded. "Right on both accounts. I can tell you're not someone who's used to events like this, so I'll give you some advice. Depending on which ones you talk to, Devils are some of the most prideful and egotistic beings you will ever encounter. Their entire existence revolves around what humans call 'sin', and they have no qualms about showing it. So, I would suggest that you get used it." His manner as speech was concise and refined, and Keijutsu could detect the hint of an accent in there. Italian?

Raising an eyebrow, Keijutsu turned to face him fully and said "I'll keep that advice in mind. However, you seem rather knowledgeable on the subject yourself, despite my senses telling me that you're at least partially human. Care to explain?"

"If it interests you so much, I'm a half-Devil. My father was a Devil, and my mother was a human, giving me the blood of both. And you are a reincarnated Devil, yes?" the young man responded.

Keijutsu nodded. "Indeed I am. But that doesn't explain how you know so much about Devil politics."

"I suppose it doesn't. I am, shall you say, a political student, and human politics are not so different than Devil politics. Much of the terrain and obstacles are the same, and your enemies can be similarly predictable," he said.

"Enemies? Terrain? You sound as if you're describing a battlefield during war, not politics."

He waved a hand. "What are politics but wars without swords? And conversely, what is war but an aggressive form of politics? Only a handful of people ever understand this principle, and even fewer are able to use it to their advantage. I'm fortunate to be one of those who can," he said.

Before Keijutsu could comment on that, there was a burst of fire near the front of the room. "Well, it looks like the man of the hour is here. I'll have to return to my fellow peerage members now, if you'll excuse me," he said.

"Of course. I have some other people I need to talk to as well before this event inevitably goes awry. It was an experience, speaking with you," the Italian man said, and walked away.

As he rejoined the Student Council and took a sip of his drink, Keijutsu mused on the encounter he just had. There was something about that man that intrigued him, like a secret hidden within a painting that you couldn't uncover. What's more, neither of them had actually revealed their names to each other. How interesting. And what did he mean by the engagement party 'going awry'?

As he returned to Sona, he found her sitting at a table, looking rather bored. Maybe these kind of parties weren't her thing either? When he sat down, she suddenly said "By the way, I had something I was curious about."

"Oh? And what's that?" Keijutsu asked.

She leaned forward. "Now that you're my Bishop, I believe it's time that we get to better know one another's past. We both know some information about another as we are now, but if you and I were to know more about each other, it would help us be able to better communicate in the future," she said.

What she didn't say was that this was also because she was still, in no small part, curious about Keijutsu and how he had come to be the person he was today. That is, the one person who had ever been able to beat her.

Keijutsu considered it, before shrugging. "I don't see the harm, in that," he said, and sat back.

"Well, as you already know, I am an orphan. I never knew my parents, and was raised in an orphanage in Kyoto. I kept to myself most of the time, mainly due to the fact that I was poor at interacting with others back then. The problem only got worse once I discovered my magic, but didn't have control over it. Children who tried to approach me would become scared when I could make things levitate like in movies, or could make animals obey me without training them. I could even, if I tried hard enough, do the same to them."

Sona frowned. "I imagine that being able to force someone to do something, even when they didn't want to, frightened the other children," she said.

"You imagine correctly. None of them would approach me, even when I promised not to do it to them. It scared the caretakers too, enough that they sent me to another orphanage to be raised. But then they were scared off as well, and I kept getting passed between institutions like a delinquent with a bad rep. It was only once I was older, and was able to actually able to control my magical skills enough to hide them, that things got better."

At that point, Keijutsu smiled. "However, it wasn't all bad. I did manage to make a few friends during my childhood, even though they were spread out across the country. I still keep in contact with them, occasionally. And of course, I had my love of science, something that fascinated me even before I learned that I could use magic."

"And it was once you learned that the two could complement each other that you started to learn Artifice," Sona said, making him nod. She hummed. "You know, I might like to meet these friends of yours someday. From the way you describe them, they seem nice enough," she told him.

Keijutsu chuckled. "Maybe someday, Kaichou. But what about you? What was your childhood like as the heiress to the Sitri family?" he questioned.

Sona shrugged. "Well, I wasn't always the heiress, to tell you the truth. That was originally my older sister, but she gave up the chance to become the head of the family when she took on the title of Leviathan," she said, making her Bishop raise his eyebrows.

"You mean the Leviathan of the Four Satans? Your older sister is the one with that title?" he asked.

"Right. And since a Devil can't be both one of the Satans and head of one the 72 Pillars at the same time, the place as heiress went to the next person in line. That is to say, me. Outside of that, my childhood wasn't very worthy of note. My parents raised me with as much love as was possible, and gave me the education I needed to become one of the brightest young Devils in the Underworld," she told him.

He smiled, and the two of them sat in silence. That ended a few minutes later, when the entrance doors burst swung open and a pair of Riser's guards fell to the floor. Standing over them was Issei, his Sacred Gear activated and his fist extended.

Oh, so that's 'going awry' meant.

From there, Keijutsu was treated to an entertaining display as Issei declared his intention to bring Rias back with him. And when more guards tried to apprehend him, the other members of the ORC got involved and laid waste to them.

Then Sirzechs Lucifer, Rias's older brother and the leader of the Underworld himself, stepped forward and revealed that it had all been his doing. He said that it was all to give Riser a 'second chance' to do better than he had in the Rating Game, when he had almost been defeated by someone with considerably smaller numbers, experience and skill. And that 'second chance' involved Issei and Riser competing in a one-on-one fight.

The two of them were then transported to an arena to duke it out, with everyone in attendance watching. The first thing Issei did was reveal that he had unlocked the Balance Breaker for his Sacred Gear, the Scale Mail. However, he could only use it for as long as it took the dragon to count down from ten without having the strain kill him.

So, the next few moments consisted of a very short but still impressive fight. The Scale Mail increased Issei's strength and speed considerably, putting him at the same level as Riser on both terms. But the Phenex still had his regeneration and immortality, tipping the scales back in his favor. They had fought, landing blow after blow on each other until Issei revealed yet another surprise.

Apparently, his access to the Scale Mail had come at a cost. He had sacrificed his own left arm to the spirit of the Red Dragon Emperor. But since the arm itself was no longer his own, Issei could do something else with it. That 'something else' was carrying a cross and holy water.

While holding the cross, any blow Issei landed actually burned Riser and didn't heal. Furthermore, he transferred what power he had after the countdown was over to the holy water, before pouring on Riser's face. It ate through the flesh like acid, causing the Phenex incredible pain. And then, using the holy water, cross and Sacred Gear in tandem, he was able to deal the finishing blow.

Following the battle, the engagement party ended. There wasn't much point to continuing it if there was no longer any engagement to celebrate.

As they left, Keijutsu was looking forward to what would happen next. It seemed that Rias and her group could provide all sorts of entertainment, as well as a wealth of new subjects to study. He was looking forward it to it.

* * *

 **And that ends this chapter. We'll start in Season 2 next time, and I have more than a few ideas for thing to happen then. Will we see some of these 'friends' of Keijutsu's? What will happen with the Excalibur fragments now that he's there? And will he succeed in his experiments? Stay tuned to find out!**

 **Please review! If you flame me then Bruce Lee will smash you with his nunchaku. (I'm just kidding… or am I?)**


	10. Chapter 10: The Pursuit of Joy

Author's Note: I do not own High School DxD or anything affiliated with it. The rights to it belong solely to their respective owners.

* * *

 **Here's the next chapter of Artificer, fresh from my muse. I'm really liking this story more than I thought I would, and ideas for it keep popping up all the time. Which, in turn, is why this chapter is out so much sooner than I expected. But enough of that. First, replies, and then the chapter!**

 **Ahsoei: Yes, this is where the attraction between the two starts, but I am making sure than it happens at a slow pace. And while I've never actually seen Fate/Apocrypha, I did look it up once you mentioned it. It was interesting, to say the least. And, I suppose the Necronomicon** _ **could**_ **count as a Phantom Book, technically speaking. But whether or not I do include it, or anything from Lovecraft's works, remain to be seen.**

 **Neo Infinity: I agree, there wasn't much that Keijutsu did in the last chapter. Probably why it took me so long to write it. But there is more in this one, rest assured.**

 **Carwash36: Thank you for your kind words.**

 **Desdelo97: Ask and ye shall receive.**

 **Sir Cookie: I specifically wrote that it was salt-colored sent I imagined it to be a shade of white between that of regular white and gray. And after looking around, I found sea-salt white to be the cloest to what I had pictured. As far as the nickname goes, yeah, I have come to see the awkwardness of it, and removed it. And the underlining is when I am referring to what Evil piece a character is, such as** **Queen** **or** **Pawn** **.**

 **And Fair: I'm glad that you enjoyed it, and I enjoyed reading your fair review. As such, I'll address each point in turn. First, Keijutsu's goal. I'm pleased that you found his goal to be understandable. When I came up with it, I tried to find something that was grand enough without coming off as unattainable. For the ham-fisted-ness, of the transition, I do agree that it was a little rushed of me. But at the time, I couldn't really see any other way to wrapping it up without dragging that arc out longer than I intended. For the Biblioprincesses, I got the entire idea from a relative obscure anime called** _ **The Mystic Archives of Dantalian**_ **, which I thoroughly enjoyed. And I will make use of it in the future. Finally, in regards to how Keijutsu's actions might create plot hooks or confrontations… Heh heh heh. Just read to the end of this chapter to see.**

 **And now, without further ado, let the chapter begin!**

* * *

Chapter 10: The Pursuit of Joy

"No, no, no! Damn it all!" Keijutsu yelled, covering his eyes as another explosion ripped through the testing room. Once he was sure that there was nothing left to blind him, he opened them and looked inside. Just like last time, the inside of the room looked as if a bomb had gone off in it. The golem responsible was lying on the ground, and there was nothing left of either the device or the test subjects.

Off to the side, still in her smaller form, Fronea yawned. "And another test ends in failure. This has been, what, your sixth attempt in the last two weeks? If you keep this up, the pet store you buy those tadpoles from is going to be _very_ curious about what you're using them for," she pointed out.

The white-haired youth grunted and waved his hand. A trio of more golems entered the testing area and began cleaning up, while two more picked up their fallen comrade and took it away for repairs. Once that was done, he picked up the Sphinx and walked out of the room, heading to the stairs that led to his apartment complex.

As he walked, he said "It's not the store owners that are the problem. If they start getting suspicious, I'll just switch to using fish as subjects, which I can buy by the dozen with no questions asked. No, the problem is that I can't seem to solve the issue with keeping the isolation sphere stable. It starts out fine, but once the aging process generates enough heat, it can't keep it contained and starts to go out of control."

Fronea tilted her head. "I see. So your theory is right, it's how to apply it that is messing up you up. Have you thought of any ways to fix it?" she asked.

They reached his door, and Keijutsu disabled the silent alarm before walking in. "A few, actually. I could strengthen the isolation sphere to the point that it can contains any heat that is created, regardless of the amount. I could reduce the amount of heat that the aging process creates. Or find a way to actually make the net entropy within the sphere _decrease_ instead of increase, which would eliminate the need for heat generation entirely," he explained.

"That second option sounds like it would best, in my opinion. So how are you going to go about it?" the familiar questioned, leaping from his arms and landing on the couch.

"To be frank… I have no idea. I'm completely stumped on how to go about fixing the design of my entropy-manipulation devices to solve this issue. I didn't even expect it to be this difficult; I fully expected the hard part to be when I got around to synthesizing human reproductive cells," he said, running a hand through his hair before looking at his watch.

The moment he did, he eyes threatened to pop out of his head, and he yelled "Holy-! Class starts in five minutes! I'm gonna be late!" He dashed into the kitchen and grabbed his bookbag before dashing to the door, but stopped when Fronea said "Couldn't you just use a magic circle to teleport there?"

Keijutsu froze, thought about that for moment, before lowering his head. He was really off today… Wordlessly, he conjured a circle that would transport him to the Student Council Room, and waved Fronea goodbye before leaving.

* * *

 **Later that day…**

"I call," the Artificer stated, smirking over his cards at Sona.

The heiress to the Sitri House was completely calm, not even a twitch in her expression. Ever since Keijutsu's reincarnation as her Bishop, the two of them had begun meeting once a week for tea and to play another round of chess. So far, the number of wins and losses was even on either side, something that both pleased and infuriated Sona.

This time, however, the two of them had decided to take a break from chess to try out a card game called 'Texas Hold 'Em'. Once they learned how to play, it was simple enough, and both enjoyed the prospect of a new challenge.

"Very well, Kei-san. Let's see what you've got," she said.

Rising to the challenge, he laid down his hand and smirked. There was a six from each suit, totaling four. "Four of a kind, Sona-san. Try and beat that," he said.

Sona's response was to, one a time, lay down each of her cards. There was a four of spades, and a five of spades, a six, a seven… and an eight. A straight flush. "I believe I win that hand," she said, allowing her smile to finally surface.

Keijutsu stared for a moment. The odds of getting a straight flush were—he did a quick mental calculation—over 70,000 to 1, compared to a four-of-a-kind's odds of over 4000 to 1. There should have been no way for her to get that hand… and yet she had.

He hung his head in defeat. "Very well. I concede defeat," he said fake-sullenly.

Sona chuckled and took a sip of her tea, sighing as the herbal taste washed across her taste buds. "By the way, there's something I've been curious about," she said.

"Oh? Ask away," Keijutsu replied.

"I reviewed my family's banking accounts last night, and I found something interesting. In the past few weeks, there's have been several purchases of both pocket watches and of pet toads, both occurring at roughly the same time and in similar quantities. Would you have anything to do with that?" she asked, looking at him over the rim of her glasses.

He stiffened for a moment, before shrugging. "Yes, that was my doing. I needed the watches and toads for a set of experiments I've been running. And as per our agreement when I first beat you, I can use any amount of money from the Sitri accounts for my research so long as I don't leave you bankrupt," he reminded her.

"Yes, I remember that. That said, it does still leave me curious as to exactly what kind of experiments you would need those for. Could you enlighten me?" she requested.

For a moment, Keijutsu pondered whether or not to tell her. Technically, he was under no obligation to do so, and he could just say that his research was private. Although it wasn't the answer Sona was hoping for, he knew she'd respect it. Still, it _was_ her family's money that he was using to fund his research, so he supposed that it would at least be courteous to let them know what he was doing with it.

And so, his mind made up, he told Sona about the current focus of his research. His attempts to find a limit to what magic could do, his goal to use magic to make intelligent human life, and his work of inducing aging via entropy.

When he was finally done, Sona leaned back in her seat and looked at her glass. For a long while, she didn't say anything, or even look at him. The silence stretched on, and eventually Keijutsu frowned. "Well? What do you think?"

Sona sighed. "What you've told me is… troubling, to be honest. From an intellectual standpoint, I can understand what you're trying to do and why you're doing it. And it is a valid question to research, what the limitations on magic are. But have you given any thought about what will happen after you go through with this?"

He blinked. "What do you mean?"

"What I mean is that the method you've chosen to create a living being can have severe ramifications. First off, what will you do with the person you've made if you succeed? Will you make sure that they're able to function in society on their own, or keep them in your lab like you do with your golems?" she asked.

Keijutsu didn't say anything, though his eyes did widen.

Sona continued. "And what of the knowledge and memories that a fully-grown human is supposed to have? This person will have none of those things, essentially making them an infant in a grown body."

His eyes grew wider.

"Both of these can have serious consequences, depending on how they're handled. If you succeed in creating a human in a lab, does that person have free will just like the rest of us? How would they be able to integrate into society? And how would you ensure that they have the knowledge and tools to do so? These are the possible problems that I can see with your approach," she explained.

Keijutsu was silent, considering what she said. To be honest, he hadn't even considered these questions when he pondered whether or not to take this approach.

They were valid points to consider. Assuming he did succeed in creating a living being, what would happen to the person he made afterwards? Would he let them leave, or would he keep them nearby to study and examine? Would he be willing to accept responsibility if something went wrong? And now that he was thinking about it, while the process would ensure that he did make a human life, how could he guarantee that the life he made was actually intelligent?

Seeing that he was seriously considering her words, Sona sat back down. "I'm not telling you to stop your research, Kei-san. But I am asking you to consider the implications of what going through with it could mean. Are you willing to bear that burden, that responsibility?" she asked more calmly.

He didn't respond, simply staring at the floor as his thought process went into overdrive. His imagination was already conjuring an array of possible images. One image was of a hunched-over, sickly looking infant, one who was stuck with a genetic defect of his own making. Another image was of a faceless adult wearing diapers, whose care would be his responsibility. And yet another was of the same faceless individual, this time fully sound in mind and body, but whose days were spent being poked and prodded like a lab rat.

Every single image disturbed him, and he briefly found himself even question whether he was doing the right thing at all.

But the moment his resolve wavered, an old memory came back to him. It was of himself, younger and shunned by the other children for having powers beyong his control or their understanding. During that time, he would read about the great things done by other scientists in history. And during his reading, he found one quote that had always stuck with him.

" _I do not think there is any thrill that can go through the human heart like that felt by an inventor as he sees some creation of the brain unfolding to success. Such emotions can make a man forget food, sleep, friends, love, everything."_

The quote was said by Nikola Tesla, a Serbian-American engineer and physicist who developed the modern AC electric supply system. From the moment Keijutsu read those words, he had always wanted to feel the thrill that Tesla mentioned, that ultimate joy that could only come from inventing. And to this day, he still found no feeling that equaled it.

That was why he sought answers to his questions, why he was willing to go so far in his endeavors. In a way, it could be seen as selfish, doing research solely for the purpose of feeling great.

But in the end, it was what made him human. Even now, having chosen to become a Devil, he still had a human's feelings, and a human's desire for joy. And come hell or high water, he would never shy away for it.

"Yes," he said, causing Sona to look up at him. When she did, she was startled to see a blaze of pure passion in his eyes, an unbroken desire that would never be extinguished.

"Yes, I am willing to accept that responsibility. If the being I create wishes to have a life of their own, I will accept that. If they need me to instruct them how to function in society, then I will teach them everything I know. And if I screw up and they suffer for it, then I will bear that burden without regret. Because that is what it means to be an Artificer," he said determinedly.

For a moment, Sona simply stared at him, amazed at the conviction in his words. Eventually, however, she smiled widely, and nodded. "You're right. I can see now. No matter what happens, I can see that you're willing to do whatever is needed to see your research through to the end. And that is something I can fully respect," she said.

Keijutsu smiled and nodded back, before standing. "You know, talking this much about my research really has me fired up. If you don't mind, I'd like to get going and work on just that," he said.

Sona waved him off. "Go right ahead. And by the way, I'm sorry if it felt like I was discouraging your work. Just remember to be careful."

"Always," he replied, and walked out.

* * *

 **One week later…**

' _So… this is the address where he lives?_ ' Keijutsu thought. Supposedly, the person living here had made a request of Sona's peerage, just like any other client. However, there were a few things that were strange with this one. First, while the client hadn't specified the nature of their request, they had specified that they wanted the 'newest Devil' to be the one to do it. And, he had sent the request via the mail, instead of using one of the fliers.

All in all, it was very unusual, and left Sona more than a little suspicious about who would make such a request. But in the end, they had decided that it was better to find out than be left in the dark, and so she had sent Keijutsu to fill out the unknown request.

That was how he found himself in front of an apartment much like his own. Except that it was larger, more expensive, and practically had 'fancy' written all over it. Whoever this client was, he was definitely rich.

' _Well, here goes nothing,_ ' he thought, and pressed the doorbell. After a moment, the door opened, and he got his first look at his newest potential contract. He was a tall man with an average build, somewhat tanned skin, and violet eyes. His hair was black with golden bangs, and he had a black goatee. He was wearing a loose-fitting gray kimono.

"Ah, so you're the Devil I asked to see. My name is Zel, nice to meet you," he said, extending his hand.

Keijutsu smiled and shook it, saying "It's a pleasure to meet you, Zel-san. My name is Keijutsu Hatsume. May I come in?"

"Of course. And please, none of that '-san' business. Around here, we can speak on informal terms," Zel said, stepping aside to let him in.

Keijutsu nodded and walked inside. Much like the rest of the complex, the interior of the apartment was lavish and spoke of great wealth. Several bonsai trees were around the edge of the living room, the furniture was all high-end, and there was even a spot on the wall where it looked like a painting had once been hanging.

He was drawn out of his inspection by Zel, who showed up with a bottle of saké and two saucers. "Well, you certainly showed up sooner than I expected. Faster than the last Devil I asked for, at least," he said.

Keijutsu couldn't help but raise an eyebrow. "The last Devil? You mean that I'm not the first Devil you've summoned?" he asked.

Pouring himself some sake, Zel replied "No, I had a Devil here last week who I hoped would be my drinking partner. But not only was he a minor, it also took him ages to get here. And get this: he showed up a bike!" He laughed. "Can you believe it? A Devil on a bike? What, are they going to be working at burger joints next?"

' _A Devil who has to travel by bike… maybe he's talking about Hyoudou-san?_ ' he thought. If he recalled correctly, Sona had mentioned a while ago that, for all the power his Sacred Gear had, it was still amusing that Rias's sole Pawn couldn't even use a magic circle without help.

"So, is that why you asked me here? To share a drink with you?" he asked out loud.

"Yup, that's it. What, don't tell me that you're a minor too?" Zel responded.

Keijutsu shrugged. "Technically, yes, since the legal drinking age is twenty and I'm only eighteen. But I can use my magic to purge the alcohol from my bloodstream just as quickly as my body processes it, so I could drink with you without becoming intoxicated," he explained.

Zel sighed in relief. "That's good to hear. In that case, let's drink up!" he said, and raised his saucer up high.

He copied the action and they both took a sip together. Keijutsu muttered a small incantation to cast the spell, and the burning he felt in his throat vanished just as soon as it appeared, leaving only the taste of the saké behind. And to be honest, it wasn't half bad.

Zel sighed again, this time in satisfaction, and poured himself another drink. "Now that's the stuff. I tell you, I've had different types of alcohol from all over the world, but saké still holds a special place in my heart," he stated.

"All over the world? You mean to say that you've actually traveled to different countries just to taste the alcohol there?" Keijutsu asked.

"Well, I don't like to brag, but…" the man said, before standing up and walking over to a large cabinet. Grabbing one handle with each hand, he swung it open and stood back with a flourish. Keijutsu stared. Inside was a bottle of alcohol from seemingly every country on the planet. He could see writing on the bottles in Japanese, English, Italian, French, German, you name it. "…I do fancy myself a collector of sorts," Zel finished.

Keijutsu had to refrain from snorting. A collector indeed. "So that's your hobby? Traveling around the world and collecting different types of alcohol?"

"Not just alcohol, no. I like to collect things in general; if I see something I like, I try to enjoy as much of it as possible. Alcohol, women, food, women, all the finer things on Earth, and women. Few things give me greater joy than that," he said, before sitting back down and taking another drink. "And what about you? Do you have something that brings you happiness?"

For some reason, when Zel asked that, an image of Sona popped into his head, specifically an image of her in that blue dress she wore.

Thinking nothing of it, he said "I enjoy doing research on things that I'm curious about. To me, that unparalleled joy you speak of comes when I can take the knowledge I have accumulated and use it to answer a question, one that usually involves performing experiments. Then, once I have the answer, I can feel the satisfaction of knowing that everything was worth it."

Zel slowly nodded. "I see," he said, an intense look appearing on his face for a second. The sight of it startled Keijutsu, but then it vanished so quickly that he was left to wonder whether or not he had actually seen it at all. "Well, this has been fun, but I think I'm going to call it a night here," he said, standing up.

Keijutsu blinked. "Already? We aren't even halfway done with the bottle," he pointed out.

The older man chuckled. "It's better to take things one bit at a time, rather than do it all at once. Same goes for enjoying a drink. But if you want, then I can form a contract with you and request to see you next weekend. We can continue making our way through this bottle then," he suggested.

After a moment of silence, the youth smiled and stood as well. "I'd consider that to be an excellent idea," he said. Zel smiled back, and the two of them shook hands on it. A miniature version of the Sitri crest glowed on the back of their hands, signifying that the contract had been formed. With that done, Keijutsu called forth a magic circle to surround him. "Well, it was a pleasure talking with you, Zel. See you next week."

Zel nodded. "See you then, Keijutsu."

* * *

While Keijutsu was heading home, triumphant at having another contract formed, three individuals made their way into the ruins of the town's church. Each of them wore white hooded cloaks, though one of them had a large sword wrapped in cloth strapped to her back.

Once inside, they took note of the collapsed columns, the shattered benches, and even the hole in one of the upper windows that let the rain fall in. One of the figures sighed, saying "This place would be best described as 'utter ruin'," and revealing themselves to be female.

The second figure, also female and shorter than the others, nodded and added "There was an incident here not too long ago, one between a group of Fallen Angels and Devils. If they're even able to set foot here, much less fight, than God has truly left this house."

The third girl took off her hood, showing that she was rather attractive, with chestnut hair held up in twin-tails and violet eyes. "These Devils… they're the ones that we're gonna have to speak with before we start our search, right?" she asked curiously.

The first woman nodded and also removed her hood. Like her partner, she was rather young, only about an inch taller than her. Her hair reached her chin, was dark blue with a green fringe, and she had dark yellow eyes. Her expression was also much more stoic than the others. "That's right. And this is also the place where we're supposed to meet our contact. We should take this time to rest before they arrive."

"I agree," the third woman said, discarding her robe. She was just under five feet in height, with fair skin, aqua-colored eyes and long navy-blue hair that was held up in a ponytail on one side. Unlike her other companions, she wore a set of long red and white robes beneath her cloak that were lined with gold.

Her expression was even more serious than the blue-head's, and she looked at her more curious comrade. "Remember, although this town may have been your home as a child, it is still under the rule of Devils, and must be treated as such. Will you be able to prevent your feelings from interfering with your duty?" she asked bluntly.

The brown-haired girl straightened and, in a rare display of seriousness, said "I can definitely prevent that. We're here to search for Excalibur, and I'm willing to do whatever is needed to make sure we succeed. You can count on that."

The aqua-haired woman nodded, and the three of them turned in for the night.

* * *

Keijutsu could sense that something was wrong from the moment he appeared in Council Room. Sure, everything _looked_ the same. Nothing was out of place, and it didn't sound like there was any kind of commotion going on. Indeed, it seemed like a regular school day.

The moment he activated his other senses, however, the ones attuned to magic and the supernatural, he could sense the abnormality. Standing near the front of the school were three powerful energy signatures, each one of them human but considerably more… pure… than average. Not only that, but they were accompanied by two other energy sources that weren't human but felt even purer.

Quickly walking over to the window behind Sona's desk, he drew the curtain aside and looked down into the Academy's front courtyard. Sure enough, there was a trio of strangers wearing white cloaks standing at the gate. They weren't coming any closer and seemed to be waiting for something, all the while ignoring the looks they were getting from the students.

Keijutsu hummed and channeled a trickle of magical energy to his eyes, causing them to glow slightly. When they did, the energy signature of everything within his field of view became visible. For most of the students, it was a shade of muddy brown that outlined their bodies like an aura, occasionally flickering to a different color in accordance with their emotions.

But for the trio in front of the church, their energy signatures were a sunny yellow, a deep blue and solid grey, respectively. And the two other energies he sensed were coming from something on one woman's back and the arm of the one next to her, both shining a solid white.

As if they sensed that he was watching, the shortest one out of the group spun around and seemed to stare straight at him, despite the fact that there should have been no way for her to see him with the morning sun reflecting off the windows. Keijutsu raised an eyebrow, but decided to close the curtain and walk away. If they were here to cause trouble, Sona would find out soon enough and have the matter dealt with.

Still, while he walked to his next class, Keijutsu quietly summoned several dozens of his mechanical wasps and had them hide in the corner of various hallways, just in case.

The day crept on, and Keijutsu could sense nothing wrong. It irked him, since he knew that those three people at the gate were not from here, and they obviously had some sort of alignment with the supernatural. And while he was glad that nothing had happened, he still couldn't help but feel restless.

When the final bell finally rang and they were let out of class for the day, he couldn't get out of the door faster. Opening his senses once more, he tried to figure out where the group of strangers went. To his alarm, he could sense that they were still on the school grounds, only this time they were headed for… the Old Schoolhouse.

' _Shit. Does Gremory-san know that they're heading that way? If she doesn't, and they're moving in that direction anyway, this could end very badly_ ,' he thought. Without another thought, he began running in the direction of the Old Schoolhouse, hoping to at least get there before nothing bad happened.

Unfortunately, by the time he got there, he could already sense that they were inside. Therefore, he stopped running and approached more cautiously. The front door to the building was unlocked, but it didn't look like it had been forced open. That may or may not have been a good sign. He entered and focused his senses further.

The three were inside the main lounge of the building, and he didn't sense any spikes of energy that might have come from fighting. Which meant that they were here in peace… or he was too late. Coming closer, he began to make out voices on the other side of the door, and crept even closer.

It was only once he was right in front of the door that he heard a voice, one that belonged to a young woman, state "Then you should let me execute you now."

' _So they are here to cause trouble. If I had known, I would have taken care of these three when I first saw them. Well, I'm not waiting now!_ ' he thought. Even if Rias or her servants were of a different peerage, they were still fellow students and Devils. If he turned a blind eye to them being attacked, what kind of person would he be?

With that in mind, he willed an array of seals to appear over each of his hands before charging forward. He burst through the doors and saw that the three strangers—who he saw were all women—were standing right in front of him. But one of them, the one with blue hair and yellow eyes, had her hand on her massive sword and was looking towards Rias's Bishop, who looked ready to burst into tears.

His entrance startled every person in the room, be they Devil or human. But before they could react, he lunged at the bluenette and called "Try executing someone after this!" and fired an orb of pure energy at her.

* * *

 **And that's where I'll end this chapter. Now we just have to wonder what will happen next time? Will Deiru be able to find the key to finishing his research? Who is the third woman with Xenovia and Irina? And what will happen now that Keijutsu has intervened with an already tense situation? The next chapter will tell!**

 **Also, some of you might have noticed that I snuck in a reference to another anime in this chapter. If you noticed it, I suggest you keep it in mind. You'll see why in the next chapter.**

 **Please review! If you flame me then Bruce Lee will smash you with his nunchaku. (I'm just kidding… or am I?)**


	11. Chapter 11: Breakthrough

Author's Note: I do not own High School DxD or anything affiliated with it. The rights to it belong solely to their respective owners.

* * *

 **Author's Note: And I'm back, with an early chapter as my form of an early Christmas present! This particular chapter was one that I've been envisioning for a while, mainly due to the fight with the holy maidens. And now that it's here, I hope you all like what I've done. But before we get to that, we have the reviews!**

 **Desdelor97 and carwash: Thank you for your kind words.**

 **Frankieu: The answer to that question will be resolved this chapter.**

 **Neo Infinity: While Azazel will not be helping Keijutsu with his efforts to make a living being, he will be instrumental in Keijutsu's (currently stalled) research on Sacred Gears.**

 **Dev6brad3: I will take your request into consideration. I know that, as to whether I will do a harem or not, I will make my decision before the Faction Meeting, as that's when Serafall makes an actual appearance in the series. I might set up an actual poll before then, but only time will tell.**

 **Tohka123: Yes, trouble is indeed brewing. The result of which will be seen this chapter.**

 **Korlinki: I do agree that the relationship between Sona and Keijutsu is moving slowly. This is mostly due to my efforts to balance that subplot alongside Keijutsu's research, the events of canon, etc. I'm still trying to find that right balance between them, and this has been the result. Rest assured though, it will start to pick up in later chapters.**

 **Guest #1: I wouldn't necessary say that Sona was ill-prepared for the chess match. Indeed, all her spying efforts, failed as they were, were all done specifically to prepare her for that match. As for each part of the request, I will address those in turn. Since Sona has political clout due both her status as heiress of a prominent Devil family and who her sister is, she can use that clout to prevent any Devil that comes to Kuoh from interfering with Keijutsu's experiments. However, the moment he does actually harm a civilian with those experiments, that protection goes out the window. The same can be said of him using the Sitri family's resources, except that it will denied if he uses said resources in excess. And Sona agreed to letting him join her peerage because, despite having lost, she can still recognize that Keijutsu would be a formidable ally, much more than if she didn't agree and Rias was able to recruit him instead. Lastly, Keijutsu has been aware of the supernatural in general for a while now (the details of which I planned to elaborate in later chapters), he has simply been ignorant to specific parts of it, such as the Three Factions. Hope all that answers of your questions.**

 **And Guest #2: Hmmm. You know, I think you might be the first person to suggest a harem for Keijutsu that includes Rossweisse. And now that I'm imagining it, I could see such a thing working if I did a harem. And you do raise a good point about Serafall. I'll certainly keep what you said in mind.**

* * *

Chapter 11: Breakthrough

Let it never be said that Xenovia was someone who was easily surprised.

All her life, she had wanted to become a great warrior for God and the Church. To that end, she had trained for many different scenarios, ranging from vampire swarms to encountering Stray Devils and even other exorcists. And once she had become an exorcist, and obtained Excalibur Destruction, she had been pushed to her limits more than once and come out on top.

This meant that she was able to act on things in combat at a moment's notice, and adapt accordingly. As such, it was very hard to surprise her.

But having an unknown Devil suddenly burst through the door and throw a ball of energy at her while she had been offering to save another Devil who had once been a saint? Not something she had encountered yet.

Luckily, while she had been initially frozen in surprise, her shorter comrade had not. She shot forward and reached for the red flower clip in her hair. Pulling it out, she let her hair fall down against her back while holding the clip up as a weapon. An instant later, it flashed brightly and turned into a massive hammer.

The navy-blue-haired girl swung the hammer and the orb of energy Keijutsu threw dispersed harmlessly along its surface. Continuing with the momentum, she spun around and swung again, this time at Keijutsu.

His eyes widened, and he channeled a current of magic to his feet. They hit the ground and stuck to it like glue, keeping himself from flying in range of the hammer. "Good, but not good enough!" he called, taking a deep breath. Before Rias or the other members of the ORC could stop him, he redirected the flow of magic to his vocal cords, and screamed.

The resulting sound wave was of such amplitude that it shattered the windows of the club room while causing the others to scream in pain. The girl with the hammer fell to her knees and dropped her weapon, eyes shut and covering her ears. He kept it going, and soon enough the others fell to the ground as well. After maintaining the magic-enhanced scream for a few more seconds, he stopped and walked over to Xenovia.

He raised his arm and the seals on it glowed brightly, while energy began crackling between his fingers. "This is what happens you to try to execute a fellow Devil on _my_ watch. Farewell!" he said, before lowering his arm.

But just before he could strike Xenovia down, a red barrier sprang up between the two of them. His attack hit it and pushed for a moment before fading away, and he heard Rias called "That's enough!"

Looking over at the redhead, Keijutsu saw that she had her hand outstretched, having barely managed to focus past the ringing in her ears in time to stop him. "Hatsume-san, these three aren't here to kill Asia! If they were, I would never have let them through the front door!" she called.

He took a moment to process that, and then raised an eyebrow. "If they aren't here to kill any of us, then why did that one," he began, pointing at Xenovia, "Just threaten to do exactly that?"

The girl with the hammer grunted and got back to her feet. "My apologies for that. Xenovia can become rather… overzealous… with acting on her beliefs. You arrived just before I could restrain her," she explained.

Keijutsu was silent for a moment, before lowering his hand. "And may I ask who you are?" he said.

She glared at him. "The others are Xenovia Quarta and Irina Shidou, exorcists and Holy Sword Wielders. My name is Suzuno Kamazuki, a member of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith. And the leader of our mission," she said.

Rather than put him at ease, that simply put Keijutsu even further on guard. Why? Because he knew that, up until 1965, that particular group was known as the Supreme Sacred Congregation of the Holy Office. And before that, up until 1908, they were called the Inquisition.

So now he was facing both an Inquisitor and two Exorcists, the latter two possessing Holy Swords. Not good. Still, he remembered Rias's declaration, and didn't strike right away. "If you have no quarrel with us Devils, then why are you here?"

"Because we do have a quarrel. With the Fallen Angels," Suzuno answered.

He blinked in surprise, not having expected that answer. He had heard that there was some sort of disturbance in this town between a group of Fallen Angels and Rias's peerage, but that had been before he had even met Sona. Was that the quarrel they were talking about?

Before he could ask just that, Xenovia, who had managed to get back to her feet, said "That said, there is no reason I can't still deliver God's judgement upon a witch at the same time."

"Xenovia! This is neither the time or place for that!" Suzuno said firmly. But she was ignored, and the bluenette turned to face Asia again. However, this time, Issei was standing in front of the blonde. And if his expression was anything to go by, he had no plans on moving.

She smirked. "Are you really willing to take on the might of the Church just to defend her? Brave actions for one Devil," she commented, reaching for her sword.

At that moment, another voice spoke up. It was Kiba, who Keijutsu noticed had been curiously absent up until exactly then. "This couldn't be more perfect. As your superior, I'll take all of you on," he declared.

* * *

' _I'm starting to believe that karma may be an actual metaphysical force is this world_.'

This was Keijutsu's thought as he stood at one end of the field along Issei Hyoudou and Yuuto Kiba. The three of them were about to have an informal spar with members of the Church, who were now standing on the other side of the field.

Apparently, despite the blue-haired one—Xenovia, he believed her name was—threatening to kill Asia to her face, they truly weren't here to do such. According to Rias, they were here to ask the Devils of Kuoh to stay out of their way as they searched for the missing fragments of Excalibur, which they believed were in this town.

He was still having trouble processing that last part. The idea that Excalibur was an actual sword and not something out of legend didn't shock him so much anymore. What had shocked him was the idea that, after the sword had been shattered in the Great War, the Church had actually been able to use alchemy to create seven new individual swords from the pieces.

The idea of using a combination of magic and chemistry to create Holy Swords fascinated him, and if he had the chance, he would have loved to learn how it was done. He had never had the chance to examine a Holy Sword before, and even though touching one would be hazardous to him now that he was a Devil, Keijutsu still wanted to at least inspect one.

But it didn't look as if he was going to get that chance, at least not in a controlled setting like he would have preferred. With Kiba's declaration, Issei looking ready to take a swing at Xenovia, and himself having already launched an attack as it was, both sides had readily agreed to get rid of their tension via a short, nonlethal sparring match.

Again, he was really considering believing in karma now.

Well, regretting his decision to hastily attack wasn't going to do him any good now. Trying to find a silver lining, he thought ' _At least I get to obtain_ some _data on Holy Swords from this encounter. That's better than nothing_.' Consoling himself with that thought, he readied himself for a fight, the seals on his arms already beginning to light up.

"Very well, then. Let's get this underway," Suzuno said, and three of them discarded their cloaks. Xenovia and Irina were wearing black, skin-tight unitards with short sleeves, fingerless gloves that covered their arms, and thigh-high boots. But while they were dressed for battle, Suzuno was wearing… a midnight blue kimono?

Keijutsu blinked. "Wait a minute. Why aren't you dressed like your comrades?" he couldn't help asking.

The short girl sighed and looked down at her kimono. "I prefer wearing outfits like this over the battle-suits the Church issues. Call it a personal preference, if you will," she said, before reaching for her hair clip. Pulling it out, she let her hair down and summoned her hammer again, raising it up high. "Not that it will stop me," she added.

Xenovia and Irina also drew their weapons and assumed fighting stances. However, before any of them could make a move, Kiba started chuckling. The act caused Xenovia to frown, and she asked, "What is it that's so funny?"

"I've always wanted to destroy Excalibur more than anything. And now, two pieces of it appear right before my own eyes. That's what funny," he said, before activating his **Sword Birth** and causing over a dozen swords to burst from the ground.

Seeing that the two of them were about to square off, Keijutsu turned his attention to Irina, hoping to at least fight the other Holy Sword user out of the group. Only to see her talking with Issei, going on about how her childhood friend had become a Devil and that God must be testing her. Clearly, he wasn't going to get to fight her.

Looking finally at the girl with the hammer, Keijutsu allowed himself to crack a smile. "Well, Suzuno-san, it looks like it's between you and me," he said.

Suzuno nodded. "It looks that way. Might I at least know your name before we start?" she asked.

Keijutsu nodded back and bowed. "I am Keijutsu Hatsume, Artificer and Bishop to Sona Sitri. I look forward to seeing someone trained by the same organization that used to root out heretics," he said, moving his own feet apart and spreading his arms slightly.

"Indeed. But enough talk. Now, it's time to fight!" Suzuno called, and shot forward at him. She moved at such a speed that he was left momentarily stunned, and barely avoided it when she swung downwards and tried to split his head like a watermelon. He jumped backwards, and her hammer struck the ground, kicking up a cloud of dirt as well as creating a sizeable shockwave.

He held up his arms to avoid getting the dirt in his eyes, but that let Suzuno come at him again, this time swinging from the side. Keijutsu leaned back until his head nearly touched the ground, letting the attack pass over him. Then, placing his hands on the ground and using his magic to give himself a burst of strength, he flipped backwards.

The result was that his foot connected solidly with Suzuno's chin, causing her head to snap back and for her to stumble away while he landed on his feet. Quickly, he used the opportunity to put some distance between them while also conjuring an orb of lightning. "Take this!" he called, and threw it at her.

Suzuno sidestepped the attack and came at him again, not noticing that the orb had actually stopped in midair once it passed her. She tried to hit Keijutsu, but he created a transparent screen of energy in front of him to block the attack. Her hammer smashed right through it, but that gave him the time he needed to move to the side and cast two more lightning orbs.

She ducked under them both, and raised an eyebrow. "I can tell that you're not one for fighting up-close, are you?" she asked.

Keijutsu shrugged. "What can I say? My areas of expertise are magic and inventing. Non-physical attacks are what I'm best at," he said, even as he created yet another pair of lightning orbs and threw them. Beginning to grow tired of this, Suzuno simply ran around them and swung at him again. But this time, when he ducked under the swing, she abruptly reversed direction and struck from the side.

His eyes widened and, before Keijutsu could dodge it, the hammer connected with his ribcage, hitting hard enough to creak several loud _cracks_. He bit his lip hard enough to make it bleed to avoid screaming, even as Suzuno continued with the motion and sent him tumbling to the ground.

' _Now's my chance to end this_ ,' she thought, rushing at him while he was down. Despite his pain, he managed to focus enough to fling his hand at her and create a burst of wind that stopped her in her tracks. Rising to his feet, Keijutsu conjured once last lightning orb and threw it at her, but she leaned to side and let it pass.

"You keep trying to hit me with that attack again and again, despite knowing it won't work. Are you that insane?" she asked bluntly. To her, trying to do the same thing multiple times, and expecting the result to somehow change, was indeed insanity.

Rather than issue back some scathing comment, Keijutsu held a hand to his broken ribs and sighed. "You need… to be more aware of your surroundings," he said.

Suzuno raised an eyebrow, but it was at that moment that she became aware of a low hum filling the air. She looked around, and paled as she realized what had happened. The orbs, all six of them, had remained floating in the air after she had dodged them. Now, they surrounded her from all sides in a circle, slowly moving in.

She looked back at Keijutsu. "So, your attempts to avoid me were just a ruse this whole time. Really, you were trying to lure me into a trap where I would be the one with nowhere to go. In fact, you planned this right from the start," she surmised.

"Exactly. And now, this is the end," he responded, before willing the orbs to fly at her. Suzuno stood there, appearing to indeed be trapped. After all, there was an attack coming at her from every side. She couldn't move forward, or back, to the side, or down. Which meant that the only way to go… was up.

So that's what she did.

Suzuno channeled her energy into her legs and leaped straight upwards, rising several feet into the air. Beneath her, the lightning orbs passed through each other harmlessly, and kept going this time instead of stopping. Smiling, she looked over at Keijutsu. "It was a good trick, I admit. But unfortunately, I'm not going to fall for something like-" she began, before stopping.

Why? It was because Keijutsu was on his knees, hands pressed against the ground, and grinning up at her. And when she heard the ground rumble beneath her, she looked down.

A cloud of red and gray particles burst upwards from the ground like a geyser, heading straight for her. With her already being in the air and having no way to fly, she couldn't avoid the attack, and was covered in a thick layer of the stuff. The moment she was, all six electrical orbs reversed direction and flew right back at her, homing in on her like she was some sort of magnet, and struck her all at once.

Suzuno screamed as she was electrocuted. If it had been just one orb, she might have been able to shrug off the damage, or at least remain conscious. But six of them, all striking her simultaneously? Not even she could withstand that, and it was only seconds before she passed out. She landed harshly back on the ground, somehow managing to avoid breaking anything on her landing.

"Suzuno!" Xenovia called, and turned away from the fallen form of Kiba to rush over to her. She quickly stabbed her Excalibur Destruction into the ground before she dropped to her knees in front of her fallen superior. She checked for any injuries and, finding there were none, she glared at Keijutsu. "What did you do?!"

He shrugged. "Just covered her in fine layer of hematite and magnetite. Both are fairly common forms of iron found underground, so I expected there to be at least some underneath this field. And the latter of the two is magnetic, which enabled my electric attacks to zero in on her and strike without fail," he explained calmly.

Xenovia glared at him in pure rage, and rose to her feet. "You bastard!" she yelled, pulling Excalibur Destruction from the ground and charging at him.

Keijutsu leaped away from her and began channeling energy to his ribs. While healing magic wasn't his area of expertise, he knew enough of it that he could turn the sharp sting of his broken ribs to a dull ache, and then numb that ache enough for him to keep fighting. That enabled him to roll to the side when Xenovia swung down at him, and hit the ground with her sword.

Only this time, the moment the piece of Excalibur came into contact with the dirt, it unleashed an explosion of such magnitude that it sent him flying, the ends of his uniform smoking as he flew.

Xenovia charged at Keijutsu while he was still in the air, and prepared to strike him once he landed. But Keijutsu took a deep breath and then exhaled, releasing a blast of wind that pushed him away and kicked up a cloud of dust.

He landed in the middle of the cloud and used a small spell to muffle his footsteps, moving slowly. Xenovia looked around from where she stood, trying to find him. When she couldn't, she gritted her teeth and called "Come out and face me, coward!"

Keijutsu didn't respond, slowly moving behind Xenovia while he tried to think of a plan. If it were simply to see which one of them could last the longest, he'd have this fight in the bag. But that Holy Sword's ability to create explosions combined with Xenovia's current anger causing her to no longer hold back… yeah, things weren't looking good.

' _I need to find some way to cancel out that explosion-creating ability. But if I come into contact with the sword at all, it's energy will burn me. So, I need to find something else that can do it_ ,' he thought. That kind of thinking required time, however, time that he didn't have. Luckily, though, he could think of something that could make that time.

Xenovia, having grown impatient at waiting for Keijutsu to strike, simply created another explosion to clear away the dust cloud. When it did, she found him with his hands once more on the ground, preparing to cast another spell. Before she could attack him, however, a large magic circle at appear in the air in front of him.

"Flight of the Ornithopters!" he called, and several dozen winged creatures flew out of the circle. Each one was little more than a stick of metal with wings made of canvas attached to it. However, they all had metal spikes fixed to their fronts, and they moved with surprising speed as they began flying at her.

Xenovia grunted and swung Excalibur Destruction at the creatures, and managed to knock a few out of the air. But the rest of them simply flew around it and dived at her, forcing her to roll backwards to avoid being stabbed several times over. More of them came, and she slammed her sword against the ground to create another explosion. The force of the blast sent the ornithopters back, giving her a second to breathe. But then swarmed her again, and she was forced to keep moving back.

While his creations kept Xenovia occupied, Keijutsu tried to think of a way to win. Direct contact with Excalibur was to be avoided as much as possible. Because of that, it would be virtually impossible to negate the holy properties of the sword even if he did have a way to do so. He supposed could try and draw the array of runes necessary to create a localized anti-magic field. But there was no guarantee that such a thing would shut down either the sword or its explosion-making power, since their energy sources were holy rather than magical.

So, if he couldn't target the sword or its ability to make explosions… could he somehow target the explosions themselves? If so, how? The explosions weren't chemical in nature, so he couldn't create a solution that would render them inert. Furthermore, they didn't happen every time Excalibur Destruction hit something, but only when it hit something and Xenovia wanted to make an explosion.

That meant that he had to provoke Xenovia into attacking him with an explosion—a risky move all on its own—and he'd only have a split second to counteract the explosion before he was turned into a smear on the grass.

' _Too bad I can't just wipe the blasts out of existence_ ,' Keijutsu thought, before pausing. ' _Wait. What if…? Could that…? Yes!_ ' Keijutsu grinned as a plan finally came to mind. A dangerous, hastily-made plan that would definitely leave him somewhat injured. But it would give him the perfect moment to finish his opponent off.

First things first though; he had to get Xenovia angry enough that she really would try to kill him. Luckily, it looked like his ornithopters were doing a fine job of that. The bluenette was started to get covered in small scratches and cut from when she couldn't complete avoid them as they attacked. And regardless of how many she destroyed with her explosions, there were more remaining.

Guessing she'd just need one more push to become completely pissed off, he dismissed his ornithopters, causing them to vanish in small flashes of light. Xenovia panted as she caught her breath, before looking over at him when he began talking. "Is this really the best you can do, Xenovia-san? If I didn't know any better, I'd say that you were a rank amateur instead of a trained exorcist. The archangel Michael would be _so_ proud," he said mockingly.

Xenovia's eyes went huge, and she roared in rage before running at him. He stood his ground and maintained that superior smirk of his. She raised Excalibur Destruction over her head, and leaped forward. "Die!" she yelled, and swung down at him.

Only for Keijutsu to reach up… and catch the Holy Sword between his hands. The eyes of everyone watching went huge, unable to believe that he'd actually willingly touch a Holy Sword. Indeed, Keijutsu could hear and smell as the skin of his hands was burned, and the pain of it nearly caused him to lose focus.

Xenovia, however, didn't even pause at the surprising move, and instead willed her blade to create an explosion at point-blank range. She saw Excalibur Destruction glow, sensed its power begin to burst outwards… before pausing. Then, just as quickly as it appeared, the explosion went backwards and collapsed into a single point, vanishing.

"Wha…?" she muttered, too stunned to speak properly.

As such, she was unable to react when Keijutsu threw her sword to the side—leaving her wide open—and reached forward to grab her shoulders. Before she could break out of his grip, Keijutsu said "If I couldn't stop your explosions, then I'll just get rid of them by using my magic to create a localized _im_ plosion. Now, it's game over," and unleashed a wave of electricity straight into her body.

Xenovia screamed as the current ran through her. The amperage of the electricity wasn't of the same level as the attack that hit Suzuno, but it did the advantage of being channeled into her directly instead of through a separate attack. And as such, it only took a few seconds for her body to shut down.

Once her eyes rolled into the back of her head, Keijutsu released her. She fell backwards and landed harshly on the ground, twitching every few seconds. "Xenovia!" he heard Irina call, and backed up when Irina ran in front of him.

Before she could say anything, he told her "They're fine, both of them. I made sure to keep the current below lethal levels. Most likely Suzuno-san will merely be unconscious for a few hours, while Xenovia-san will be unable to move for a slightly smaller length of time. They'll have no permanent injuries."

Slowly, the brown-haired girl nodded. "I… see. Very well. Thank you for that," she said.

Keijutsu nodded, before hissed as the pain in his hands flared. Looking down, he saw that they were, not surprisingly, covered in burns, mostly second-degree but close to third. ' _Shit, this stings_ ,' he thought. Now that the adrenaline was starting to leave his system, the pain was becoming more apparent.

Barley able to avoid crying out, he looked over at the ORC. "Unfortunately, healing magic is something I was never quite good at. Argento-san, if you could do something about both these burns and my broken ribs, that would be great," he said.

Asia hesitantly nodded and held her hands in front of his chest. The rings that represented her **Twilight Healing** manifested and gave off a soft green glow. Keijutsu grunted as felt pins and needles along the skin over his ribs, while the ribs themselves began repairing.

Eventually, they finished healing with loud _snap_ , and she moved onto his hands. The lower layers of skin were repaired first, then the upper layers, and finally the outermost layer, the epidermis. Once it was done, he sighed. "Thank you," he told Asia, before looking over the Church members. "Well, it was an… enlightening… experience, fighting with you all. Take care," he said, before conjuring a magic circle and leaving.

* * *

 **The next day…**

"Come on… I'm so close I can almost taste it!" Keijutsu muttered, staring at the whiteboard in front of him. The Chemistry Club had just wrapped up, and he had chosen to stay behind and clean up in order to have free access to the whiteboards. On the one in front of him was a schematic of his artificial aging device, while the ones to his left and right were covered in abstract formulae and equations relating the design.

Now he was sitting on one of the lab stools and had it titled back against the wall while he stared at the schematic.

' _Let's see… So far, I've been able to reduce the ratio between the aging induced and heat generated to about 15 kilojoules of heat for every four seconds of induced aging, or 3.75 kilojoules for every one second. But after a certain amount of time during which this rate remains constant, the amount of required heat begins increasing exponentially for the same amount of aging_ ,' he thought.

Leaning forward, he muttered aloud "But why?" Why did the heat/aging ratio change only after a certain interval of time? Why did it not do so immediately, and what caused the change? Based on the data he had obtained, he might be able to plot the various amounts of heat with respect to time and try to find an approximation of the general equation governing the system's behavior. But even that was assuming such a function existed and didn't possess any discontinu-

The opening on the classroom door interrupted his thoughts, and he braced himself in case whoever it was wasn't a Devil and he had to erase their memory of having seen his work.

Luckily, that wasn't the case, as it was just Tsubasa. The girl had peeked her head in and was looking around, as if she were trying to find something. That something was apparently him, as she stopped once she saw him and said, "Good afternoon, Keijutsu-san."

Lowering his guard, he smiled. "Good afternoon, Tsubasa-san. What brings you here?" he asked.

Her smile faltered, and she said "Kaichou asked me to find out where you were and bring you to her. She mentioned that you were part of several clubs and suggested that I start with looking through the Chemistry labs."

"Oh? And what might Sona-san need me for today? Not more fliers, I hope," he said, chuckling. But when she didn't find it amusing, his smile faded. "What is it?"

"Well, it's just that Kaichou found out about how you assaulted three members of the Church yesterday and… well… she's not pleased," Tsubasa said.

At that, he sighed. Well, he should have been expecting this. He had indeed acted with a level of rashness usually reserved for Issei or Saji, instead of analyzing the situation like he usually did. If he was going to be punished for it, he might as well get it over with now.

"Very well. Just one moment," he said, before standing up and walking over to wipe away all of his equations and his schematic. Once that was done, he followed his fellow servant to the Student Council room.

Once there, she let him go in by himself, and he did. Sona was there, sitting her desk and going through paperwork as usual. Remembering Saji's warning to not interrupt her while she was doing this, he simply stood there and waited.

Eventually, she finished, and put the last sheet of paper way before placing her hands on her desk, fingers interlaced. "Have a seat, Keijutsu," she said, making him internally wince. She was using his entire name, instead of 'Kei-san' like she had been calling him. That probably wasn't a good thing.

Still, he did as requested, and sat in front of her. For a moment, there was silence, and then she said "I was told this morning by Rias about the encounter she had with the representatives of the Church. Including about how you barged in there and tried to assault one of the Holy Sword wielders."

She leaned forward. "I ignore the transactions you make using my family's money because of our agreement. I also forgave you after disobeying my orders and going off on your own in Familiar Forest. But this? Attacking a member of an enemy faction without provocation? This is something I can't overlook," she said.

Keijutsu sighed, bracing himself.

"So now, I have just what question to ask. What the _hell_ were you thinking?" she asked.

The Artificer took a moment to consider his response, before eventually saying "I suppose the simplest explanation was that I wasn't thinking. Or at least, I didn't think about it enough. I had noticed the three of them when they first arrived on the school grounds, and was initially suspicious of them. Then, when I tried to see if they were still around after class, I sensed that they had made their way to the Old School Building."

"Since I didn't sense any spikes of energy from there, that meant that they were either here in peace, or that they had already killed Rias and the others. I arrived just in time to hear one of them threaten Argento-san, and believed that to have confirmed their intent to be hostile. So, I acted accordingly."

Sona listened to all this, before sighing. "And you didn't think to first ask me about whether or not I knew they were here?" she said.

Keijutsu blinked once… twice… and then hung his head. "Honestly, no, I hadn't thought of that," he said. And in hindsight, it would have definitely been a smart idea. They wouldn't have known that the Occult Research Club was Rias's base unless someone, like Sona, already told them. And although the two heiresses were rivals, Sona would never had revealed that information unless she believed the three girls to not be a threat.

"I see that you're right. Checking with you first would have enabled me to learn ahead of time if the exorcists had arrived peacefully or not. And if I had done so, I could have avoided nearly starting a war entirely. I'm sorry," he said.

Sona sighed. "Well, at least you're willing to admit that you were in the wrong. You have that going for you. Luckily for you, with the three of them and possibly the Fallen Angels around, I'll have to postpone your punishment until later. For now, just go," she told him.

Refraining from sighing in relief, he prepared to do just that. Maybe now he could get back to his research. Really, he was just one step away from figuring out the design and…

Keijutsu mentally trailed off, simply sitting there for a moment. Sona looked at him in concern, asking "Kei-san?" but he didn't respond. His mind had suddenly gone into overdrive, connections starting to form.

An initially constant rate… Changes occurring after a certain amount of time… The excess heat… The stability of the isolation sphere… And then something that one client, Zel, had mentioned.

" _It's better to take things one bit at a time, rather than do it all at once._ "

"How could I have been so stupid…?" Keijutsu whispered.

"Excuse me?" Sona said, and he shot to his feet.

"If such a thing were possible… The minimum time required… The maximum heat that doesn't endanger the subject's health… THAT'S IT!" he kept muttering, before yelling the last part. Sona nearly jumped in her seat, and Keijutsu grinned at her. "I think finally figured it out!"

Without providing any further explanation, he created a magic circle and stepped into it, vanishing. "Wait a second! What do you mean?!" Sona called, rushing after him and entering the circle before it deactivated.

Closing her eyes at the initial bright flash, she opened them to see that they were inside Keijutsu's office in his underground lab, and that he had ripped all his other drawings and notes off the note boards along the walls. The he flipped the entire boards over, showing that there were chalkboards on the other side.

Pulling a piece of chalk from his desk, he said "I just realized how to do it, Sona-san. How to use my entropy-manipulation devices to induce aging without killing the subject in the process."

Sona crossed her arms. "Do tell," she said.

"You see, in all of the experiments I've done, the same pattern kept occurring. The device would activate, create the isolation sphere, and begin aging the subject or subjects while also generating heat. For a short span of time, it would simply continue like this, and then the heat generation rate would spike after a certain span of time had passed."

"Every time since then, I've been trying to find a way to prevent this heat spike, and the accompanying destabilization of the isolation sphere, from occurring. Whether that be by increasing the amount of heat the sphere can contain, reducing the amount of heat generated, or both. But now I've just realized an underlying flaw with every one of those approaches," Keijutsu, not looking back as his continued writing.

She raised an eyebrow. "All of those ideas seemed perfectly sound to me. What's wrong with them?"

That time, he did look back, and grinned. "The flaw is that, in each of these scenarios, I've been trying to go through the entire aging process all in one go, from start to finish. But if I can determine the minimum amount of time required for the amount of heat to reach its 'critical value', for lack of a better phrase, then all I have to do is design the device to deactivate itself before that value is reached!"

Sona's eyes widened. Quickly seeing where he was going, she said "And once you've done that, you can start the device once, have it deactivate itself after a certain amount of time, and then start it up again. Each time you do this, you'll have aged the subject a little bit more until, after enough repetitions of this, you'll have achieved the exact same result as before."

"Exactly! Granted, this method will take more time than the previous one due to needing to repeatedly start and stop the aging process. But this is approach is not only plausible, but would also mean that I wouldn't need to readjust the design of the device any more than I already have!" he replied.

With that said, he wrote several lines of calculations, trying to figure out just what that minimum time was, and once he had, he stepped back. Exactly ninety-six seconds. That was how much time each cycle could last. "It's perfect," he stated.

Sona smiled widely. "I'm glad that you were able to figure it out, Kei-san. After all the work you've put into it, it'll be good to finally see it pay off," she told him.

Keijutsu turned around and smiled at her. "I wouldn't have been able to come up with it without you, though. You were someone who I could voice my ideas to. Not someone that would just nod their head and not question it, but a person who actually tried to _understand_ me. For that, I couldn't be more grateful," he said.

The level of sincerity in his tone caused Sona to pause for a moment, fighting back the blush that threatened to appear on her cheeks. Not expecting a response anyway, Keijutsu looked at his watch. And proceeded to nearly fall over in surprise.

"Shit, it's almost 7 PM! If I don't hurry, the pet store's going to close soon, and I won't be able to test this idea tonight!" he said, hastily making yet another magic circle. But before he stepped into it, he faced Sona and, swept up in both his joy and feeling of triumph, kissed her on the cheek.

"Thank you, Sona. Have a wonderful night!" he called, and vanished.

The heiress to the Sitri house was frozen for a moment. Slowly, almost robotically, she reached up and felt her cheek. It wasn't a romantic kiss. Hardly anything more than a peck, really. And yet… The blush she had fought back came rushing right back stronger than ever, crashing through her attempts to resist it and turning her face red all the way to her ears. Without saying another word, Sona left via magic circle as well.

* * *

 **That wraps up this chapter. I have been somewhat wracking my brain for a while as to how Keijutsu could solve this problem, and this answer came to me in the middle of, strangely enough, my Digital Computations class. Hope you enjoyed both that and the fight, and we'll get to see what comes next on both fronts next chapter.**

 **Also, for those of you who are wondering, Suzuno Kamazuki is a character from the anime** _ **The Devil is a Part-Timer**_ **, a hilarious show that I recently found and had a great time watching. I referenced it last chapter with "Zel's" line about Devils selling burgers, since that's exactly what Satan himself does in the show. For those of you who caught the reference, kudos to you.**

 **Please review! If you flame me then Bruce Lee will smash you with his nunchaku. (I'm just kidding… or am I?)**


	12. Chapter 12: Working Together

Author's Note: I do not own High School DxD or anything affiliated with it. The rights to it belong solely to their respective owners.

* * *

 **The latest chapter for Artificer has come, and right as the new semester is starting for me! As such, it'll be a while until the next chapter after this one. That said, I hope that you enjoy it. First, however, are the replies!**

 **Frankieu: Yes, I've been looking forward to that particular 'Eureka!' moment for a while.**

 **Desdelor97: Thank you for your kind words.**

 **Neo Infinity: While Keijutsu's aging device would not enable him to heal himself via time manipulation, the idea of one his inventions enabling increased healing is intriguing. I'll have to give it some more thought. Also, which manga character was this?**

 **Carwash36: I agree, an embarrassed Sona is a cute Sona. Unless that embarrassment turns to anger. Then you run.**

 **Shu Ouma GC: I didn't go by points with that first match, so no, Keijutsu wouldn't have won. As for the Harem, and the pairing in general, I've gotten enough requests for it that I'll probably out up a poll in the near future.**

 **Kratos1989: While Keijutsu's current research will not affect the Kokabiel attack, I will say that he has something else up his sleeve.**

 **Ahsoei, kynan99 and beowolfalein: Ask and ye shall receive.**

 **Grg213: Yes, that was a rather foolish move on Keijutsu's part. Rest assured though, he has learned his lesson from it.**

 **Lazyguy90: While that is definitely an amusing mental picture, Keijutsu has not quite reached a level of madness necessary for something like that. Though for something creative and destruction… heh heh heh… you'll see when we get there.**

 **Tohka123: Yes, I had planned it so that Keijutsu's spark of inspiration would come while talking with Sona. The fact that they were talking about a screw-up that he made, though, was ironically unplanned.**

 **And Guest #1: I'm glad that you're enjoying the story so much. I do try to find the right balance between having Keijutsu be strong but not overpowered. Plus, I haven't seen a lot of stories where the MC is in Sona's peerage, and I decided to break the mold by doing that. As for when Keijutsu realizes who Zel is, that is coming very soon.**

 **And now, the chapter commences!**

* * *

Chapter 12: Working Together

"So, this time it's fishing instead of drinking?" Keijutsu asked.

Zel shook his head, handing him a fishing rod. "Both, actually. I find fishing to be a rather relaxing pastime, and thought about spending it with someone else. So why not the Devil I signed a contract with?" he said.

Keijutsu shrugged. It was as good a reason as any, he supposed. He cast his line and leaned back, enjoying the view. The night sky in Kuoh was something he had never really taken the time to appreciate. Looking at it now, he could say that he was impressed. For a city with as much artificial lighting as it had, the stars could be seen very well.

They shined like countless diamonds, their light moving at speeds unparalleled through that empty void known as space. Until eventually they reached this one little planet, came into contact with his eyes, and were seen. A journey that could end up lasting eons for some of the farthest stars, a quest through space from the star that emitted the light to here. It was fascinating.

Keijutsu placed his arms on the deck behind him. Yes, this was a very relaxing night. Here, he could temporarily forget all about his research, his schoolwork, everything, and just focus on the night sky and the sounds of the waves.

The alcohol certainly helped him relax, too. Even though he couldn't become intoxicated thanks to his little spell, he admitted that he was starting to really like the taste of sake. More than he thought he would, really. Even as he took a sip from the saucer Zel handed him, he had to refrain from sighing in pleasure when the cool, rich taste of it hit his taste buds. "I can see why you collect this stuff," he remarked.

Zel chuckled. "I could tell at first that you weren't a fan of sake. But that's why I was glad that you chose to accept my job request anyway, since I knew I could make a believer out of you. Glad to see that I was right," he said.

Looking over at him, Keijutsu said "There's something I've been curious about, if you don't mind me asking." When Zel gestured for continue, he asked "Exactly what is that you do for a living? Are you some sort of businessman, and that's why you're able to travel around so much?"

The older man snorted. "Not really, no. I'm a member of… shall we say… a special interest group for people with certain 'characteristics'. And among that group, one of my jobs is 'Advisor of Special Technology'. Basically, I do research on technology for my group, especially anything deemed strange or unusual. And depending on where the 'strange technology' shows up in the world, I have to travel to take a look." he explained.

Keijutsu frowned at that. That kind of response told him a lot and very little at the same time. Although it did explain why Zel traveled, he noticed that the man had deliberately not described the nature of the group he was a part of. And he had mentioned that investigating strange technology was only one of his jobs. What other roles did he have in this mysterious organization?

In fact, it could have just been his paranoia speaking, but what if the group Zel was with connected in some way to the supernatural? Keijutsu looked ahead and tried to appear calm. But slowly, and quietly, he began opening his senses to see if there was any trace of energy coming from Zel. If there was, he could sense it, and determine its source.

But just before he could do that, Zel chose to change the subject and ask, "So tell me, how's your research coming along?"

Keijutsu nearly jumped, and swiftly looked over at him. He didn't recall telling Zel about his work on magic. How did he know about it? "I beg your pardon?" he asked.

The older man grinned. "You told me last time that you were an inventor, and that you like doing research. I was just curious as to how it's going."

Oh, right. Keijutsu refrained from sighing in relief, and said "It's going rather well. I took your suggestion of doing things one thing at a time into account, and it's worked out well for me so far. My latest prototype is even passing the tests I set for it."

"Glad to hear it. So what exactly does a Devil research? The most efficient methods of extracting souls?" he asked playfully.

Keijutsu chuckled. "No, nothing like that. More to the point, I'm actually trying to see if I can use magic to create intelligent human life. I've finally managed to create a working device that can artificially induce aging, which will make it easier for me to obtain results in a small amount of time. Now I just have to see if I can use magic to synthesize human reproductive cells."

Zel hummed. "Impressive. Although I'm only supposed to be an 'advisor', I fancy myself a researcher in addition to being a collector. But I've never actually tried to create life itself. Exactly how high are you going to try and shoot in these experiments of yours?"

"Until I can find a limit as to what I can do with magic, I'll just keep shooting higher. There has to be _something_ that magic can't do, after all. Whether that be resurrecting the dead, creating new life, or even recreating a Sacred Gear, there has to be something that I can't use magic to do. And until I find what that is, I'll just have to keep looking," Keijutsu told him.

Zel went stiff, looking over at him. Making sure to keep his voice and expression from changing, he said "Sacred Gears?"

Keijutsu nodded. "Yes. To state it shortly, Sacred Gears are special powers or objects given to humans by the Biblical God as part of his system of miracles. I was trying to use magic to recreate one, and managed to at least partially succeed. But I don't have enough information about their inner workings to make any further progress on them, so I've switched my focus to creating life."

"I see…" Zel said, before being distracted by a bite on his line. With practiced ease, he reeled the fish gave it a look over. It was a regular common carp, not a bad catch but nothing extraordinary. He removed the hook from its mouth and tossed it back, before casting his line again.

Neither of the two of them said anything more for the rest of the night. Keijutsu was enjoying the quiet and taking the time to relax, while Zel was too busy thinking. He hadn't seen potential like this in a long time. Just from what he could sense from Keijutsu, he had an immense amount of magical power, probably from being the Sitri girl's Bishop. And to go with that magical power was a mind that could find many, _many_ different ways to use it.

Heck, even he was surprised by what his familiars had been able to pick up. Creating mechanical soldiers, flying devices, even a real voodoo doll. And now he had managed to not only find a way to create accelerated aging, and had actually made progress on recreating Sacred Gears?

That last one was of even greater importance to him. 'Zel' had actually managed to create his own artificial Sacred Gear, known as **Down Fall Dragon Spear** , but that was only after having made a pact with the Dragon King Fafnir, who agreed to be sealed into the object. Exactly how far had this Devil gotten on his own? And if Zel revealed who he really was and offered to compare notes, how much would both of their efforts improve?

Inwardly, Zel laughed. Someone else who was working on Sacred Gears… what were the odds they would meet?

* * *

 **The next day…**

It was with no small amount of curiosity that Keijutsu approached the café. He had received a request for a meeting from a member of Rias's peerage. Her Pawn, to be precise. Why Issei Hyoudou would want to speak with him at all was its own mystery, much less why he wanted to meet here, instead of at the Old Schoolhouse. But he wasn't going to just ignore the request out of hand, and decided to meet with the pervert.

As he approached the café, however, he saw Saji approaching from the other end of the street, and they both stopped. Upon seeing him, Saji immediately frowned. "What the-? Keijutsu, what are you doing here?" he demanded.

The Artificer raised an eyebrow. It seemed he was still on Saji's bad side, even after time had its chance to wear down that resentment. How unfortunate. "I was asked to come here by Issei Hyoudou. What, don't tell me that you received an invite as well?" he replied.

Saji nodded. "Yeah, I did. So why are we both being called out to show up? What gives?"

Before Keijutsu could reply that he had no idea, they were both distracted by the sight of Issei. Said Pawn was sitting at one of the tables and waving his arm, indicating for them to come over. The two members of the Sona's peerage traded glances, before sighing and walking over.

"Hey, guys. Glad you could make it," Issei said, gesturing towards the two chairs also at the table.

"No worries, man. So, what's up?" Saji said, taking the lead and sitting next to him.

From there, Issei decided to explain how Kiba had been acting strange ever since right before the girls from the Church showed up, and how he had even declared that he would no longer live as Rias's servant if she kept him from pursuing his desire for revenge. To say Keijutsu was surprised was understatement. His own impression of Kiba was that he was nice, sociable, and an all-around 'good guy'. The image of an anger-driven avenger that Issei was painting did not match up.

' _Now that I think about, though, he and I have never really spoken except for that time at the engagement party_ ,' he thought. And if he recalled correctly, the smile Kiba had worn then had been a bit too 'bright' to be genuine. Was it possible that the smile, and the rest of him, was just a mask for the Kiba that Issei was telling them about?

Deciding to shelve the idea for now, he resumed listening as Issei began describing his plan to help Kiba. And to do that, they were going to lend a hand to the Church in searching for the fragments of Excalibur. Only instead of finding them, and having them returned to the Church, they would destroy them. Once they were gone, Issei reasoned, Kiba would be able to go back to his old self due to the object of his vengeance no longer being around.

Keijutsu considered the whole idea in silence. Saji, however, had one very simple response. "Hell no, man! Are you even serious?!"

"Serious as a more-than-four-hour erection!" Issei replied, effectively jarring Keijutsu out of his thoughts. What kind of analogy was that?

"You're insane!" Saji yelled, standing up and preparing to lay into Issei for what he perceived to be pure stupidity. But when he saw the looks that his shouting was getting directed at them, he sat back down.

Keijutsu took the lead from there. "I agree with Genshirou-san in that this is a very bad idea. Both Sona and Rias made it very clear that they want us to stay out of the Church's way, and to not get involved with the Holy Swords. Going out and destroying Excalibur would be doing exactly that, and I've avoided getting punished by Sona enough times that I don't feel like pushing my luck," he explained.

"Come on, guys! This is the best way to help Kiba, and I can't do it by myself!" Issei pleaded.

Saji stood back up. "Sorry, man, but I'm out!" he declared, before he began walking away. Or at least tried to. However, no sooner had he made it a total of three steps before he was stopped, marching in place but not making it any farther. Blinking in surprise, Keijutsu looked around the wall to see what was holding Saji in place. Only for it to be none other than Koneko.

"Figured you try to run," was all she said, before using her immense strength to literally throw Saji back into his seat. She then grabbed the sundae she was eating and moved to sit with them.

Looking at both members of Rias's peerage, Keijutsu sighed. "I suppose that if I tried to use a magic circle to leave, you'd stop me before I could finish conjuring it, correct?" he asked. When Koneko simply nodded, he sighed even louder. ' _Why do I seem to be getting involved in all these situations? I have research to do!_ ' he mentally complained.

"So, you really want to cooperate with the Church?" Koneko asked Issei.

He nodded. "It makes sense. I mean, they did say that, if the worst should happen, they'd rather destroy the swords than let the Fallen Angels get them. And Kiba wants nothing more than to destroy Excalibur. The results are the same, even if the goals are different," he pointed out.

Keijutsu shook his head, saying "Be that as it may, I doubt they'll be as willing to work together as you are. Those girls don't seem particularly fond of Devils, especially Xenovia-san."

"Yeah, but we should still at least try! Especially if it means that Kiba can keep from becoming a Stray and stay with the rest of us!" Issei argued.

Keijutsu considered this. While it wouldn't really make a difference to him if Kiba became a Stray or not, he could see that it mattered a lot to both Issei and Koneko. And while he could just run away the moment Koneko wasn't keeping an eye on him, he couldn't say the same for Saji. So, it would probably be in his best interest to help, if for no other reason than keep his fellow peerage member from getting killed.

"Very well," he eventually said. "But if we are going to do this, then the first thing we need to do is find those girls. So let's start looking." With that, Keijutsu stood up, and began walking away.

The others were quick to follow, even if Saji didn't want to be there at all, and they began searching the streets for them. As they walked, Keijutsu couldn't help but ask something. "I am curious. Why did you ask for my help to begin with? I can see why you'd ask for Saji, given than you might feeling a sense of companionship due to the fact that you're both Pawns. But why me?"

Issei chuckled and rubbed the back of his head. "Well, to be honest, I thought you'd be the next best person to ask. I mean, I doubt Sona gave you permission to barge in on us like you did the other day, so you'd probably be more likely to accept doing something she may not like. And you were the only of us that won in that spar, so you'd be a good ally to have if things get ugly," he admitted.

Keijutsu stared. That was… a surprisingly smart deduction. Maybe there was more that occupied Issei's head than just fantasies about women and breasts. Underneath all that, could there actually be something of a strategist? If so, it was worth keeping an eye on.

Turning his attention back to the streets, he wondered exactly how long it would take them to find the Church girls. Given that they were trying to perform this search for Excalibur in secret, he highly doubted that they'd make their appearance obvious to the public. What was more, they might even be hiding themselves using magic, which would make looking for them a whole lot-

"Oh, you who are the blessed sheep of our Lord, I ask that you be kind towards us!"

"We are eternally in your debt! Thank you for your generosity!"

"Your offerings will ensure that God's love can be given, and His will be done!"

As one, all four Devils turned and looked at the source of the voices. The holy maidens were right there, in front of store, wearing their white robes and everything with a collections box in front of them. There was even a sign that said, 'Offer your salvation' planted next to them.

Keijutsu dead-panned. Okay, maybe finding them _would_ be that easy.

* * *

After having found the girls, they learned that the reason they were out in public and begging for money was because Irina had been tricked into spending all of their money on a fake painting of some unknown saint. When they learned that, Issei had the bright idea of offering to buy the girls lunch in exchange for a conversation.

Which led them to their present situation.

' _Exactly where is all that food going to_ go _?_ ' Keijutsu wondered, watching them. Xenovia and Irina were hungry enough that, once food appeared in front of them, they had been going to town on it. Xenovia was more inhaling her cheeseburger than actually eating it, while Irina was going back and forth between tearing into some pork chops and using a bowl of ramen as her drink, even while the noodles and vegetables were still in it.

Suzuno was just as hungry as the others, but appeared to be eating her food at a more sedate pace. Sedate in that, while her comrades were progressively creating a mountain of dirty dishes, she had only finished three bowls of rice and two plates of sushi. And she was actually using her chopsticks instead of silverware.

Finally, once she was full, Irina clasped her hands together and called "That tasted heavenly! Oh, Lord, please offer your blessing unto these, the kindest Devils I have ever met!"

On cue, Keijutsu felt a stabbing pain in the side of his head, and he glared at Irina. "Would you stop that?!" he demanded.

"Oh! Sorry, it was force of habit!" Irina apologized, having completely forgotten that prayers or blessings actually hurt Devils.

Suzuno took a sip of her tea to wash down all her food, and then looked at them. With the food gone, it was time to get to business. "Well, you've treated us a meal, as you promised. What did you want to talk about?" she asked.

Deciding to let Issei take the lead—this was all his idea anyway—Keijutsu sat there while the pervert declared "We want to help you destroy Excalibur."

Xenovia's expression didn't change, but they could see the surprise in her eyes. "What?" she said.

Issei explained the situation to them, ranging from Kiba's past to his quest for vengeance, and why he thought it would be a good idea for them to work together. Once he was done, the holy maidens thought about what he had said.

Eventually, Xenovia said "I understand. If you desire to help us so much, I don't mind if you take care of one sword."

That shocked both Irina and Suzuno, with the former calling "Wait a minute!" while the latter said "We should talk about this first!"

' _Damn. I was hoping that they would say no, and I could wash my hands of this whole affair_ ,' Keijutsu thought, unaware that Saji was having very similar thoughts. Apparently, his luck wasn't that good.

Looking at her comrades, Xenovia said "You both know how strong Kokabiel is. As much as I'm ashamed to admit it, we don't have the power to obtain all three of the Excalibur fragments on our own."

"Yes, I am aware of that. But we knew the risks that this mission would have when we agreed to it. Are you telling me you're willing to compromise your own beliefs just for the sake of survival?" Suzuno demanded.

The bluenette faced her. "If it means keeping the Holy Swords away from the Fallen Angels, then I'm prepared to sacrifice everything. Even my life," she stated plainly.

There was a moment of tense silence, while the two of them stared each other down. After almost a full minute, it was Suzuno who finally sighed and broke eye contact. "I can see that you're fully committed to this. Very well; as your senior, you have my authorization to pursue this path," she said.

"Then it's settled," Keijutsu suddenly said, getting to his feet. "I'll leave explaining this to Kiba to the rest of you. I have somewhere that I need to be." And with that, before anyone could stop him, he left.

* * *

 **Several hours later…**

Keijutsu grinned as he looked at his test subjects. Twelve hours ago, the animals in front of him had been a trio of tadpoles, swimming around in separate petri dishes. But after having made use of his aging device, they were now fully grown Japanese common toads, ribbiting and hopping around on top of the table. Everything was working correctly.

"Now that the testing on frogs has gone well, and no side effects have developed as a result of the aging process, I can start testing on mammals. Let's hope the pet store has a sale going on for pet rats," he said to himself, writing down notes on the test subjects and their behavior. It wouldn't do for something to go wrong later because he didn't write things down now.

Once he had all the data he needed, he ordered his golems to gather up the toads and release them into the wild. He had no further use for them, so it was only fair that they get to live their lives now.

Walking back into his office, he saw that Rasiel was sitting on his desk, kicking her feet while Fronea was curled up her lap. Honestly, if he didn't know that Rasiel was the living library for countless Phantom Books and that Fronea was his familiar, he might have found the image cute.

As it was, he smiled and said "Rasiel, what brings you here?"

The girl smiled and placed the Sphinx on the table before standing. "I heard about your success with your latest project, and wanted to congratulate you on it. I never thought you'd be able to do something like accelerate aging without using any of my Phantom Books. But here you are, doing it all with your own inventions. Nice job," she said.

Keijutsu grinned and bowed. "It means a lot, to hear that coming from you. I appreciate the compliment," he said sincerely, before going over to sit at his desk. "But I doubt that you decided to show up simply to say nice things to me. So why else are you here?" he questioned.

"Well, I heard about how, even if you succeed in making a human life, you'd have some trouble making sure that the life you make is actually intelligent. Luckily for you, I was able to come up with a solution," she said.

He raised both eyebrows. "Is that so? I'm definitely listening," he said.

Rasiel grinned and reached towards her eyepatch. Moving it to the side, when she opened her left eye, a bright stream of golden light shined forth, the source it being a solid orb of light where her eye should be. Holding her hands out, the light seemed to bend towards them. Keijutsu watched closely as, with a flash of the same light, a book appeared in either of her hands.

After placing the books on the desk and replacing her eyepatch, she said "These are my solution." She gestured to the first book. It was heavy and appeared to very old, with an ornate golden cover. Due to its age, the leather binding had lost its color, and the title, author name and publication date had all been worn off.

"This first book is called the Book of Wisdom. Its power is that it grants knowledge and wisdom in all kinds of field to whoever reads it. It does this by raising the computational abilities and mental faculties of the reader. If one were to read the book all the way to the end, they could even obtain absolute wisdom. However, only children or the immature can be affected by it, since only their brains are susceptible to influence," she explained.

Keijutsu picked the book up and looked it over, taking care not to open the book. "Fascinating, I'll admit. But according to your description, this book only increases the knowledge of the person who is reading the book. I'm trying to increase the knowledge of another, someone who has no idea how to even read," he told her.

Rasiel's response was to smile even wider. "And that's where this book comes in," she said, pointing at the second one. This one was a faded green in color and appeared to be in remarkably good condition, as though it were brand new despite likely being otherwise.

"This one is called the Book of Equivalence. The book enables its user to obtain anything they wish through a series of exchanges. When you present an item to barter with someone, the other person will offer something of equal value in exchange. Because of this, one can obtain any item in the world, so long as they have something of equal value to trade."

Keijutsu hummed. "A book that enables its user to perform any number of equivalent exchanges…" he muttered, before his eyes widened. "And _anything_ can be exchanged, just as long as they're equal?" he asked. When Rasiel nodded, he added "Including something immaterial, like memories or knowledge?"

"Precisely. Ordinarily, if someone like you tried to obtain knowledge from the Book of Wisdom, it wouldn't work due to your brain not being open to its influence. Any wisdom you would gain would be instantly discarded," she started.

"But if I use both it and the Book of Equivalence in tandem, then I can transfer that knowledge to the person I create even as it enters my brain!" he said, looking at both books with wide eyes. This was it. This was how he would ensure that the life he made was intelligent. By using the magic of the Phantom Books to artificially implant that intelligence in his creation's mind.

It was so simple, yet so perfect. He knew that the abilities of the Phantom Books were virtually limitless. But even so, he would never have thought to use them like this. However, even as he reveled in his awe at this development, there was one thing that he had to wonder. Looking at up the green-haired girl, he asked "Why are you helping me with this? You rarely do something without benefiting from it in some way. How does giving me assistance benefit you?"

Rasiel giggled. "So, you're not so foolish after all. I didn't think you were," she said, causing his eyebrow to twitch. Before he could comment on it, however, she said "In any case, you're right. You see, I've become interested as well in whether or not you'll actually succeed in using magic to make life. I possess Phantom Books within myself that can heal wounds, create living puppets, and even temporarily resurrect the dead."

"But I don't think any of the Phantom Books—at least, the ones in my Library—can actually give life to something that never had it to begin with. So, I'm curious if you can actually do it. Simple curiosity, that's all," she said, before abruptly frowning. "However, there is a catch to using the Book of Equivalence in this manner."

"I figured as much. And what's the catch?" Keijutsu asked.

"You have to remember that the Book ensures that the exchange carried out is _always_ equal, no matter what. And since value is subjective, what is worth much to one person can mean nothing to another. As the saying goes, 'one man's trash is another's treasure'. Therefore, if you do this and do not truly believe that that you'll be giving away—the knowledge from the Book of Wisdom—is of equal value to what you'll receive—the success of your experiment—then the Book will take from whichever party stands to gain more. Even it means taking their lives, if the difference in value is great enough."

Keijutsu was silent for a moment, and looked once more at the books. Rasiel said that the Book of Wisdom could even grant absolute knowledge and wisdom. For someone like him, absolute knowledge seemed like a pipe dream, a goal that could be reached for but never grasped. Yet right here, in his hands, was something that could grant it. Was his success equal in value something like that?

He honestly didn't know.

Placing the books down, he stood up. "You've given me a lot to think about, Rasiel. Nonetheless, I am grateful to you for providing me with this. Thank you," he said.

Rasiel nodded. "You're welcome," she said, before she began walking towards the door. Once she placed her hand on the door knob, though, she stopped and looked back. "By the way, how close are you to actually finishing your experiment?"

At that, Keijutsu grinned. "Ah, now that's a good question. The only thing I have left to actually do is use magic to synthesize human reproductive cells. Luckily for me, progress is already being made in this area in terms of creating reproductive cells using stem cells and skin cells. Here in Japan, even, mice have been born from egg cells created from the cells in a mouse's tail. If I can figure out the exact procedure needed to create a cell using both magic and a pre-existing DNA sample, then I can finally close the gap and make functioning human sex cells."

Rasiel raised an eyebrow. "A pre-existing DNA sample? And where are you going to get that?"

"Well, for the sperm cell, I can just use my own DNA. But as for the DNA sample I'll use to make the egg…" he began, before walking over the other wall of his office, across from the note boards. That wall was covered with what appeared to be dozens of magical circles, each one etched into the wall.

Reaching towards one of them, the seals on Keijutsu's arm began glowing, as did the circle. He pressed his hand against it and his hand actually sank _into_ the metal of the wall, creating a ripple like the surface of a pond. Keijutsu frowned in concentration, searching for something, before smiling once he grasped it.

He pulled his arm back out and the wall returned to its original state, while Keijutsu now held a test tube in his hand. "…I have something special in mind," he finished.

Inside the test tube was a strand of vibrant red hair.

* * *

 **That's a wrap on this chapter! Yeah, you guys remember that bit right at the end of Chapter 5, where Keijutsu got his hands on a strand of Rias's hair? This is what I intend to do with that. And we got to see another example of what the Phantom Books can do, and how they're going to impact this story. But will Keijutsu succeed in synthesizing the reproductive cells? Even if he does, can he use the Books of Wisdom and Equivalence to make the experiment succeed? And what about the Holy Swords? Keep reading to find out!**

 **Please review! If you flame me then Bruce Lee will smash you with his nunchaku. (I'm just kidding… or am I?)**


	13. Chapter 13: Holy Clash

Author's Note: I do not own High School DxD or anything affiliated with it. The rights to it belong solely to their respective owners.

* * *

 **Holy son of a smoking gun. I knew that I left last chapter off on an** _ **interesting**_ **note, but I did not expect that response I've been getting. I'm pretty sure last chapter got more reviews than any other on this story, and all because of one little hair. *Grins* I am so happy! So now, before we go on, let me reply to all the reviews I've gotten!**

 **ARSLOTHES: While Keijutsu will not be cling his own personal army (he's got his golems already), you are onto something with the artificial Sacred Gear. That's all I'll say for now.**

 **StoryCrafteer: Only if people find out it was Rias's DNA. If not…*grins evilly* this can turn out great!**

 **Desdelor97: I'm glad that you enjoy that as well.**

 **Xbox432: You are right in that, should the truth of whose DNA he's using gets out, Keijutsu would be in a lot of trouble. But I doubt that tidbit ever will see the light of day. Also, you correct about how, with the methods Keijutsu has developed, he could use his knowledge solve the birth issues for all three factions. So why doesn't he? That will be elaborated on later.**

 **Ahsoei: I did contemplate using Sona's DNA but in the end I decided that this would be more entertaining.**

 **Carwash36: Funny that you should mention Frankenstein's monster, since… Well, that's actually going to be important far down the line.**

 **Frankieu: Yes, using the Phantom Books this way can go wrong if Keijutsu isn't careful.**

 **Neo Infinity: Shoot white liquid from his hands… Is it Rising x Rydeen?**

 **Acesnowlightning: Thank you for your kind words.**

 **Devilscreed: You, sire, made me laugh a huge amount with so few words. Kudos.**

 **Bloodredmoon22: Yes, obtaining a strand of red can be easy. But doing so from someone you hardly ever interact with, without them or anything else noticing? A little harder. And yes, that will be a sight to see.**

 **Tohka123: Oh, it will be interesting, Believe me, it will.**

 **Lazyguy90: Darth Vader style reveal… *Imagine Keijutsu is a black suit and using the Force* Oh yeah, that would be dramatic.**

 **ZangetsuOldMan: Yes, I doubt Sirzechs would be pleased if he learns that he was an uncle and never knew.**

 **Guest #1: Even the greatest of minds make dumb mistakes. Take pushing on a door that says 'pull', for example.**

 **Meddlesome Guy: You know, I think you're right. Not once on this site have a seen a fic where Rias** _ **does**_ **marry Riser. Odd… Now I have to go look on other sites, just to satisfy my curiosity if it's ever been done at all. As for getting strand from Ophis, I have no plans on that, though this might not be the last person Keijutsu ever "creates".**

 **Guest #2: Yes, it is necessary for us to return to the canon plot for a few chapters. But after that, I fully plan on getting right back to the research.**

 **Guest #3: More oppai indeed. Plus, is I ever do let the beams get spilled, the look Rias will have will indeed be beyond price.**

 **And Celestial stratos: I didn't plan on having the person created call Rias 'Mama'. But calling Keijutsu something like 'Papa' or even 'Father'? Now** _ **that's**_ **likely.**

 **And now, without further ado, let the next chapter begin!**

* * *

Chapter 13: Holy Clash

It was late at night when Keijutsu met up with Saji, Issei, Koneko, Kiba, and the trio of holy maidens. They had chosen their rendezvous point as being the abandoned church, and the time of arrival to be just after midnight. Issei was the last to arrive, and once he had, Suzuno handed each a set of robes.

"These priest outfits will enable you to be seen with us without appearing suspicious. No one will question a group of holy people wandering around, even if it is at night," she explained.

The Devils nodded and put them on. ' _Wearing a priest's robes, working with members of the Church, searching for Excalibur, and meeting inside of a church… the number of anti-Devil things we're doing right now is amazing,_ ' Keijutsu thought. Still, there was nothing to be done. Unless he wanted to risk Saji getting killed and having Sona get pissed at _him_ for it, he had to remain a part of this.

Once they were all dressed up, Suzuno continued "We'll be able to search more efficiently if we split into two groups. There are eight of us in total, so each group will have four members. We'll be checking the east and west sides of town respectively."

"My fellow peerage members and I plus Saji will search the east side. You three and Keijutsu can search the west side," Kiba said.

"Then it's settled. Operation: Obtain Excalibur is a go!" Irina cheered, and the rest of us nodded.

Just before we could do that, however, Xenovia called "Wait. Hyoudou-san." Issei looked over at her, grunting in curious acknowledgement. She stepped closer to him. "I wanted to let you know that I appreciate the kindness you showed in feeding us earlier. Because of that, you deserve to know: The White Dragon Emperor has awakened."

Issei's eyes widened, while Keijutsu raised an eyebrow. Hold on. Wasn't the nickname for the creature inside Issei's Sacred Gear supposed to be the 'Red Dragon Emperor of Domination'? If that was true, was there another dragon out there like it that was referred to as a White Dragon? And was that dragon sealed in a Sacred Gear? Definitely worth looking into once he got back home.

As it was, once the eight of them split up into their groups, Keijutsu began walking down the street with the maidens. As they did, Keijutsu summoned more of his mechanical wasps to begin flying around and perform surveillance, flying above the town and searching from the air.

For a while, they didn't spot anything out of the ordinary, leading Irina to ask "So… do you guys have any idea about where to look? 'Cause I sure don't."

Xenovia hummed. "If Valper Galilei and Freed Sellzen are involved with the mess, as we suspect they are, then they'll likely be hiding somewhere with very few people living nearby. That would help them avoid being spotted," she pointed out.

"That's right. So, we need to think of a remote location where there aren't many… witnesses…" Keijutsu said, before trailing off.

The girls looked at him, and Suzuno asked "What? Did you think of a place?"

Hesitantly, Keijutsu nodded. "There is a warehouse over near where construction is being done. I once used it myself in order to trick Sona and her peerage into fighting some of my golems. I can't think of a better place for someone to hide," he told them.

Xenovia and Irina nodded, but Suzuno raised an eyebrow. "And why would you have done that in the first place? I was under the impression that you are also a part of Sona Sitri's peerage," he said.

"Um… that is correct. However, I wasn't a member yet at that point in time, and wanted to test their abilities in combat. Call it an experiment, if you will," he explained.

She stared at him for a moment, before shaking her head. "I can worry about it later. For now, let's go to this warehouse." Keijutsu nodded and led the way.

Once they arrived at the warehouse, he saw that it was the same as it had been after Sona's fight there. The door was lying to the side, having been torn off by Sona's water magic, and the interior was littered with pieces from his golems that he hadn't bothered to collect before.

However, it didn't seem as if either of the Stray Priests were in sight, or any Fallen Angels. "Aw, don't tell me it's a dead end?" Irina asked, pouting.

"It would seem so. Still, it would a good guess. But if they're not here, then we should continue searching elsewhere," Suzuno said, turning around to walk out with Xenovia behind her.

' _Strange. I could have sworn that this would be the place to hide. Even if someone did come and investigate, they could have just turned off the lights and stayed up on the catwalks,_ ' Keijutsu thought, before blinking. Quickly looking up, he was able to make out several shapes in the darkness, shapes that were somewhat humanoid.

And then one of those shapes leaped down, targeting the holy maidens while their backs were turned. "Shit! Suzuno-san, look out!" he yelled, running towards her.

Suzuno took his warning and, without even looking, called forth her hammer while spinning around. The hammer struck the unknown figure and sent it flying towards Xenovia, who drew Excalibur Destruction and hit the enemy with an explosion that literally blew it to pieces.

Not willing to let the others get a drop on them, Keijutsu ran over and flipped the light switch next to the door. When the light turned, he received an eerie sense of déjà vu. Standing on the catwalks were several wooden manikins, each of them with ball joins and featureless heads, who appeared to be looking in their general direction.

It was a trap.

' _If I didn't know any better, I'd say that this Valper person stole my attack strategy_ ,' Keijutsu thought. But rather than let the enemy come to them, he called "Let's get them!" and used a magic-enhanced jump to leap onto the catwalks.

Three of the manikins charged at him while the girls followed suit, each enemy carrying a simple broadsword in both hands. Keijutsu willed the seals on his arms to appear and he clapped his hands, sending a small shockwave that knocked them back.

A total of nine other manikins targeted the girls, three to each of them, and they were forced to split up. Irina summoned Excalibur Mimic and had it take its usual katana form, which she used to block all three of the manikins charging her when they swung in unison. "What in Heaven are these things?!" she called, pushing them away from her.

"They seem to be similar to my golems, except that they're much simpler in design and made of wood. I didn't think the Fallen Angels had anyone that was a magic-wielder, though!" Keijutsu replied, creating a small barrier over each hand that let him knock away any blows meant for him. When he did, he noticed that the swords were emitting a small amount of holy energy, causing him to frown. "Nor did I think that they had any other Holy Swords in their possession!"

Xenovia stabbed her blade into the chest of one of the manikins before blasting it to splinters, the force of said blast causing the other two she was fighting to stagger back. "Valper is an expert in Holy Swords, and also had training as a magician. He could definitely create bastardized Holy Swords like these, as weak as they are, and enchant these dummies to wield them," she explained.

"Wonderful," Suzuno flatly stated, kicking one manikin's legs out from under it and making it fall to the ground. Before it could get back up, she smashed her hammer into its midsection, crushing it while also severing its legs from the rest of it. However, even without its legs, the construct still tried to crawl forward and swing at her, forcing her to hit it again and crush its arms.

Keijutsu leaped backwards to avoid a slash that would have otherwise cut his chest open. Placing his hands on the rails, he leaped up and kicked one of the manikin's in the chest, forcing it to fall back. Then, channeling a current of energy into the rails through his hands, he willed them to move and wrap around the enemy like a pair of snakes, trapping the manikin in place. He finished it off with a small fireball, setting the wooden creation on fire while it was immobilized.

The manikin futilely tried to break free even as it burned, and tried cutting through the metal with its weakened Holy Sword. But not only was the attempt completely useless, but its comrades simply walked around it, leaving it behind while they attacked Keijutsu.

Irina cried out in pain from being cut by one manikin while she wasn't looking. It was a small cut to her side, and her being human meant that the pain wasn't magnified in any way. But it still stung something fierce, and she glared at manikin responsible. "Alright, that does it!" she called, morphing Excalibur Mimic into the shape of whip.

She swung at the manikin, and it raised its Holy Sword to block it. But the end of the whip wrapped around the blade, and it was jerked out of its grasp when Irina flicked her wrist. Irina caught the sword as it came towards her with one hand, while the whip changed into a similar broadsword in her other hand.

"You better get ready, because here I come!" she called, shooting. She struck with both swords and the manikin tried to counter with hand-to-hand combat. Unfortunately, not only had it not been created for such a thing, but Irina was far faster than it could hope to be. Over and over again she struck, until all that was left of it was a pile of fragments ready for a wood chipper.

Xenovia severed one manikin's head from its shoulders, and then turned to focus on her last enemy. However, while she had her back turned, the now-headless manikin attack gave her long cut across the back, making her use everything she had to resist screaming. Enraged, she turned back around and hit it in chest with Excalibur Destruction, creating an explosion powerful enough to cause the entire warehouse to shake.

Unfortunately, the explosion also had the side effect of complete destroying the section of the catwalk that the manakin had been standing on, which included a pair of support columns. The catwalk groaned metallically as the rest of the support columns struggled to keep the space aloft. An attempt that was not helped when Xenovia used another explosion, albeit a smaller one, to destroy the last manikin targeting her.

Suzuno leaned back to avoid another hit, but then the catwalk jerked beneath her and she fell onto her back. Before either of her enemies could capitalize, she got back to her feet and swung her hammer sideways, knocking one manikin into the other and sending them both into another support beam. The force of her blow actually caused the beam to buckle slightly, producing another groaning from the catwalk beneath her feet.

Still, the arms of both manakins were completely mangled, leaving them unable to attack anymore, and also unable to adequately block when she struck again and smashed one of them into the metallic floor, taking it out of the fight.

Keijutsu waited until one manakin was close before placing his hand on its chest and casting his implosion spell. Instantly, the construct collapsed in on itself as if it were inside a trash compactor, limps splintering and woods chips flying in all directions. He kept it up until al that was left was a vaguely spherical mass of wood, one that he set of fire and set at the last golem.

It ducked under the projectile and swung, forcing him to retreat further back. It pursued him, but then Keijutsu noticed that it was about to pass by a pair of support beams on either side of the catwalk. Smirking, he waited until just the right moment before willing the beams to bend and pierce the manikin. It tried to keep going, but then he set it on fire as well and watched with satisfaction as it was incinerated.

But then the catwalk jerked again, releasing its loudest groan yet. Suzuno's eyes widened and she looked around, seeing all the damage that had been done to the catwalk itself and all the supports. "Not good. Everyone, we have to get off this thing!" she called.

The others stopped and looked at her, but then the catwalk buckled beneath their feet and they understood. Keijutsu took the quickest route and jumped over the edge, using a burst of magic to soften his landing once his feet hit the concrete below. Irina did the same but managed to turn her landing into a roll. But the two manakins she had yet to finish off, along with the last one that had targeted Suzuno, moved and tried to block the way.

Xenovia growled and yelled "Out of our way!" before hitting one with yet another explosion. The move did destroy that one manikin and create an opening, but its also accelerated the catwalk's collapse, making it jerk again beneath them.

"Come on!" Suzuno called, rushing towards the ladder at the end. The last of the manikins pursed them, but they were ignored. At the other end of the catwalk, the supports finally gave out and it began falling apart, taking parts of the warehouse's roof with it. One almost hit Suzuno, but she knocked it away with her hammer. The reached the ladder and quickly began to climb down, while manikins kept running. But then the catwalk buckled again and both of them lost their grip, falling down to hit the floor below.

Or at least, they would have. However, Irina dived forward and managed to slide along the ground to just beneath where Xenovia would land, enabling the bluenette to land on top of her. Meanwhile, Keijutsu ran towards where Suzuno would land and caught her in his arms, grunting as the weight of her hammer nearly caused to fall over. Seriously, how much did that thing weigh?

Either way, the catwalk collapsed completely, taking the last of the manikins with it and kicking up a large cloud of dust.

A quick wind spell cleared it up, and Keijutsu helped Suzuno to her feet. "Well, I can safely say that that was a trap," he said.

Xenovia snorted and stood up, helping Irina up once she did. "That's an understatement. And what's more, neither Freed or Valper are even here. So, this entire fight was for nothing," she said sourly.

Irina managed to crack a smile, saying "Oh, don't be so gloomy, Xenovia. Instead of thinking of it as us having failed at finding out where they are, thinking of it as having found one more place where they aren't!"

"Maybe so, but that still leaves us unsure of where to search next. Let's hope Kiba and the others found something on their end," Suzuno remarked.

No sooner had she said that then Keijutsu's phone began going off, and he pulled it out of his pocket. Answering it, he said "Hello?"

" _Keijutsu, it's me, Koneko. We found both Freed and Valper, along with Excalibur_ ," Koneko told him, making his back go ramrod straight.

"Where?" he asked, and she replied " _We're at this old manor where my peerage once took out a Stray Devil. I'll send the address in a second, so hurry_." And with that, she hung up.

A few seconds later, he received the address via text, and he looked up at the maidens. "You were right; they were successful. Let's move," he said. They nodded, and the four of them ran out of the warehouse for where the enemy was.

* * *

The four of them arrived just in time so see Freed, who was wielding a sword made up of several Excalibur fragments, yelled "Why don't you all just stand there and let me kill you!" before jumping at Kiba.

The blonde Knight quickly pulled his sword from the ground and moved to block, but Keijutsu could see that he wouldn't be able to move quickly enough. Then Xenovia came in from the side and blocked the attack for him, causing sparks to fly as the two Holy Swords clashed.

"What the-? Xenovia?!" Issei called, apparently shocked at seeing her.

"Yoo-hoo!" Irina called, discarding her robe and running up to Saji and Koneko.

Keijutsu and Suzuno followed behind her, walking at a slower pace, and Keijutsu waved. "We got Koneko's message. Looks like we arrived right on time," he said.

Meanwhile, Xenovia glared at Freed and some old man that was standing on the ground. "You're traitors, the both of you. Valper Galilei and Freed Sellzen, in the name of God, I condemn both of you to Hell!" she said viciously.

Vaper simply rolled his eyes at the declaration, while Freed snarled. "How dare you? Don't ever spout His miserable name in front of me again!" he yelled, and his Holy Sword became cloaked in a golden aura. Xenovia pushed against him and Excalibur Destruction become enveloped in the same glow.

The two of them didn't give up an inch in attempting to overpower the other. However, that also kept Freed from moving, and Kiba just that moment to jump over Xenovia and swing down with a loud battle cry. "Sellzen!" he roared.

Freed's eyes widened, and he used the power of Excalibur Rapidly to move away, dodging the attack and landed next to Valper. Before the insane priest could attack, however, Valper told him "Freed, you're done."

Freed looked over at him in confusion, and Valper said "All that was required of you was that you kill the agents sent by the Church. A simple, task, really. Yet here they are, wielding Holy Swords of their own, and they have us outnumbered. It would be best if we retreated."

Keijutsu raised both eyebrows. So, he had no problem laying a trap where the enemy would be outnumbered, but he ran the moment the tables were turned? Such a coward.

Freed pouted. "Aw, and I didn't even get to kill any of them?" he complained, but obeyed nonetheless. Pulling a small pellet from inside he robes, he called "See ya, wouldn't want to be ya!" and threw the pellet against the ground. It exploded in a flash of light that left everyone temporarily blinded for several seconds.

Keijutsu grunted as the light seared into his retinas, before eventually fading. Once it was gone, both Freed and Valper were nowhere to be seen, having used the distraction to escape. Without another word, Xenovia and Kiba jumped down and ran into the woods, Xenovia calling "Let's go!"

"Right!" Suzuno called, and she and Irina ran off as well.

"Hey, hold on!" Issei called. He also jumped down from the ledge above and tried to pursue them, but ended up falling over from the strain of using his **Boosted Gear**.

It was at that moment that Keijutsu felt twin surges of magic behind him, and turned around. ' _Oh, dammit_ ,' he thought, seeing that the source of it was a pair of magic circles. One bore the Gremory crest, and Rias and Akeno appeared from it. The other one had the Sitri crest and, to his despair, brought forth both Sona and Tsubaki.

* * *

"Goodness gracious, look at this. I'm sure this is going to be one lively explanation," Rias said, her jovial tone and benevolent smile completely at odds with the aura of pure danger she was emitting.

Sona nodded, her own expression even more stoic than usual. "Whenever you two would like to begin, I'm all ears," she stated.

Keijutsu took one look at his King, then at Saji, and then decided to be completely honest while also offering the blonde up as the sacrificial lamb. "I had no desire or inclination to be a part of this. I tagged along with this insane idea of Issei's because Saji wanted to, regardless of whatever 'draconian' punishment you might deliver. I did not wish to see him killed for his idiocy."

Saji nearly face-faulted at that, and looked over at Keijutsu. "WHAT?!" he yelled, the fires of pure betrayal burning in his eyes.

While Keijutsu merely shrugged, Sona hummed before looking at her Pawn. "Is this true, Saji? You chose to disobey ours orders even though you knew the consequences, and cared not for the punishment that would entail?" she asked, stepping forward.

The Pawn gulped. Technically, he _did_ say that he'd help Kiba regardless of Sona's punishment, but that was only after hearing his tragic backstory. "I… Um… Well, you see…" he stuttered, unsure of what to say.

"Saji," Sona began, and he immediately shut up. "You've been exceedingly reckless, and not nearly as cautious as you should have been. I'm highly disappointed," she said. She raised her right hand, and it began glowing with magic. "Now, turn around, and get down on your hands and knees."

"What? Wait, please-" he started, but shut up again when he saw the magic glow intensify. At a speed that would have made the fastest Knight jealous, he did as ordered and got on all fours, facing away from Sona.

Once he was in position, Sona called "I think this will be enough to make you reflect on your actions!" and slammed her hand against his rear end.

Saji cried out in pain, shouting "I'M SORRY, I'M SORRY, I'M SORRY!"

But Sona shook her head, replying "I believe that you are, and that's why I'll only be giving you one-hundred instead of one-thousand!" And then she swung again and Saji continued screaming, the magical energy causing his pain receptors to go into overdrive.

As he stood there and watched, Keijutsu internally sighed in relief. Nothing he said was false, the only reasoned he agreed to not run off the first chance he got was to keep Saji from getting killed. But now that the day of judgement had come, he had no qualms about stating that fact out loud.

Did this ruin whatever respect Saji might have for him? Yes. Did it also save him from the jaws of punishment once again? Yes to that, too.

Or at least, partially saved him, because no sooner had he thought that than he heard Sona say "As for you, Kei-san, while your willingness to get involved for the sake of Saji's safety is understandable…"

Then he felt something smash against the back of his skull hard enough that he fell to the ground, hitting his face against the floor. Pain flared to life on both sides of his head, and he simply thought ' _Owwww_.'

Looking back, he could see that Tsubaki was the one who had hit him, using her Queen-enhanced strength to do so. "…You are due some measure of punishment as well. As such, that will be the extent of your physical disciplining, while the rest of it will consist of losing access to my family's banks accounts for one month. For that time, you will perform your research using your own money," Sona finished, not pausing in her spanking of Saji.

Keijutsu mulled that over in his head. Well, it could be worse. He had been able to afford the materials for his experiment just fine before he got access to Sona's money. And while being cut off from it was unpleasant, it was a punishment he could live with.

* * *

 **The next day…**

' _Hmm, so it would appear that there_ is _a Sacred Gear similar to Issei that possesses a being called the White Dragon Emperor._ _ **Divine Dividing**_ _, another of the thirteen Longinus, is the_ _ **Boosted Gear's**_ _opposite in that, rather than doubling its user power every ten seconds, it instead halves the power of an opponent. How very interesting_ ,' Keijutsu thought, reading the book Rasiel gave him that contained the list of Sacred Gears.

So, another powerful Sacred Gear existed that obtained its abilities and fame from having a powerful being sealed within it. Counting the five made from Vritra's soul, that made a total of seven that he had knew of already, probably more.

He was starting to see a recurring theme here. Maybe, once he resumed his research on Sacred Gears, the key would not be to make one with completely new powers and abilities from scratch. He could instead create a Sacred Gear with no powers at all, a 'blank state' as it were, and infuse the spirit of some other powerful being into it. If he did go that route, could he get it to work?

But first, he would still need to figure out how to create that 'empty' Sacred Gear to begin with. For all the knowledge the Archangel Raziel had, it seemed that the exact way that God made Sacred Gears was beyond even him. What a shame.

Still, he supposed that if was possible for him to find out how to do it himself, were he able to enter the section of Heaven where the Sacred Gear system resided. Such a place was likely to be heavily guarded and have also sorts of defenses, possibly including the archangels themselves.

' _But…_ ,' he thought, ' _What about a Fallen Angel?_ _I_ _f there existed a high-ranking Angel who did manage to gain access to that part of Heaven and then became Fallen afterwards, they'd have the knowledge I'd need and be much more likely to share it than the regular Angels. Could there be someone like that?_ '

If there was, they had to have been a very high-ranking Angel prior to their fall, narrowing the list considerably. Which meant that now, all he had to do was look up all the names of the high-ranking Angels who had ever fallen, and keep going through them until he found a match.

Deciding to put both the book and the thought away for now, Keijutsu placed the list of Sacred Gears off to the side and focused on the device in front of him. At first glance, it would have appeared to be a regular compound microscope, one that could be purchased at a regular store. However, etchings on the side of the microscope itself and around the lenses in the form of runic arrays enhanced the magnification of the device. With it, he was able to take a small piece of the sample of Rias's hair he obtained and view the cells comprising it through the microscope.

"Okay… So first I need to device the runic formula that will replicate these hair cells, then another that converts the replicated hair cells into an oocyte, which will then become an egg cell after undergoing meiotic division. Once I've accomplished that, I need to develop another set of runes that can take a sample of my own DNA, replicate it and then convert it to sperm cells. Those sperms cells then fertilize the egg cell, creating a zygote that will develop into an embryo."

Writing down notes with one hand while still looking through the microscope, he said "The replication of the cells should be relatively easy. What will be more difficult is the conversion of the hair cells into an oocyte and the conversion of the somatic cells into sperm cells. However, if I can figure out the formulae required for that, then I'm in the clear."

"The only real issue is that, while I can provide as many samples of my own DNA as needed, I only have one strand of hair from Rias, which means that I can only perform a finite number of attempts until I can make the replication arrays work. That's going to definitely make things harder," he said.

Still, at least he had an idea of what he needed to do now, which was the first step. Deactivating the microscope, he flipped a page in his note book and began writing jotting down ideas of the specific structures of the runic arrays he'd need, starting with the replication ones.

A few hours passed in this fashion, with steady progress being made on all fronts. However, just as he drew the first possible prototype for the replication arrays, he felt it. It was as if a large weight suddenly descended on his shoulders, nearly overwhelming him with the feeling of pure power that it gave off, as well as the amount of satisfaction and bloodlust that the presence gave off.

Just a second later, that presence vanished, and it was replaced by that of a large barrier. Alarmed, Keijutsu close his notebook and began to go outside. All he had to do was open his door to see that, near the edge of down, a large barrier had indeed sprung into existence. Whatever had conjured it, though, could not mean well.

' _I have to warn Sona about this_ ,' he thought. Trying to focus on Sona's presence so that he could warn her, he was startled to sense that she was actually in the same place as the barrier, which meant that she was actually inside it.

Not wasting another second, Keijutsu focused on the Bishop piece within himself and its connection to Sona, and used that as the connection he needed to conjure a magic circle. Stepping into it, he felt the usual sense of weightlessness replaced by a nearing crushing force, likely the barrier attempting to keep him out. But he would not be deterred, and willed the connection to remain open.

It worked, and a moment later Keijutsu appeared inside the barrier, where he was treated to a shocking sight. The entire Gremory peerage was present—minus Kiba, that was—along with Sona and Suzuno, and facing them was none other than Freed. Unlike last time, however, Freed was carrying his sword made of fused Excalibur fragments while he had Excalibur Mimic wrapped around his around, and two more Holy Swords in his robes.

But that wasn't what drew the majority of his attention. What did was the figure hovering in the air above Freed, and who was the source of the presence he sensed a moment ago. It was a Fallen Angel, one had a total of ten wings and long black hair, with pointed ears and red eyes. He wore a black cloak with a small amount of armor over it, and his teeth were all pointed.

Considering all that and remembering who supposedly stole Excalibur to begin with, this being could also be one person. The Carde-class Fallen Angel, Kokabiel.

"Someone want to tell me what the hell is going on?" he said.

Issei looked back at him, blinking in surprise. "Whoa, dude, I'm glad that you're here. Long story short, Freed nearly killed Irina and took Excalibur Mimic, and used her as bait to get us. And that Fallen Angel who just showed up is his boss," he explained shortly.

Keijutsu nodded and walked up to stand behind Sona, ready to act if needed. But it would seem that Kokabiel wasn't looking to fight immediately, as he said, "It's a pleasure to finally meet you, daughters of the Houses of Sitri and Gremory."

Rias crossed her arms. "The pleasure is ours, I'm sure. So, you're the one who helped co-found the Grigori? What a dubious honor," she stated.

Kokabiel grinned. "That crimson hair of yours remind me very much of Sirzechs. You even have the same facial expressions. To be frank, I find that sickening," he said, before looking at Sona. "You, on the other hand, are nothing like your older sibling. Whereas Leviathan is energetic and—how should I say it? —bubbly, you're the picture of professionalism."

"Coming from a Cadre-class, I'll consider that a compliment," Sona replied, adjusting her glasses. "However, you'll have to forgive me if I skip the pleasantries and get straight to business. Why are you here, Kokabiel?"

At that, the level of bloodlust coming off the Fallen Angel grew, which went perfectly with his next words. "I'm here because I plan on leveling that educational building you're both attending, and then moving on to do the same to the rest of this town. If I do that, both Serafall and Sirzechs will be certain to appear in order to protect their respective sisters," he declared.

My eyes, along with Rias's and Sona's, widened at the implications. Rias gave voice to them saying "If you do that, you know what it will mean. You'll be completely destroying the nonaggression pact that ended the Great War, starting it all over again!"

But Kokabiel merely laughed. "Exactly. I thought that just stealing the piece of Excalibur would be enough to convince Michael to retaliate and break the pact for me. But instead, all I got were three weak little girls."

Suzuno clenched her fist at that. It wasn't enough that this filth had attacked her, Xenovia and Irina. It wasn't enough that a Fallen Angel had put their hands on Excalibur. But to do it all for this? "You actually _want_ to force the War to resume?!" she yelled in outrage.

"Indeed, I do! After the Great War ended the first time, I nearly went insane with boredom. No Devils to burn with my light, no Angels to tear the wings from… it was maddening. And both Shemhazai and Azazel were so concerned with how many numbers our side had lost, they wanted peace more than anything!" he yelled.

Keijutsu blinked. "Wait. Azazel and Shemhazai?" he thought aloud.

Without looking back at him, Sona nodded. "They're the other two Fallen Angels who founded the Grigori. Shemhazai holds the rank of Vice Governor General, while Azazel is both Governor General and Advisor of Special Technology," she informed him.

Keijutsu straightened. Advisor of…? No, that couldn't be Zel. But the he remembered how his client had mentioned being a part of group with certain characteristics, and that he hadn't meant what those characteristics were. And then there was his name. Zel… Aza _zel_?

Deciding to fish for one other piece of information, he looked up at Kokabiel and asked, "Tell me, is this Azazel also obsessed with collecting stuff?"

Too focused on himself to question the suddenness of the inquiry, Kokabiel nodded. "Yes, he's always had a thing for collecting and doing research. I hear he's even spent a lot of time working on Sacred Gears, if you can believe it," he said, snorting in derision.

' _Well, that settles it. He and I are definitely having a talk once this is over_ ,' Keijutsu thought.

"In any case, this so called 'peace' between the Three Factions is so fragile, all it will take is one act of war on my part to send it all crashing down. And I think laying waste to the town that two prominent young Devils live in will do just the trick," the Fallen said.

On the ground beneath him, Freed burst out in laughter. "This is so great! Don't you just love it when he shows his psychotic side?! I can't wait for this War to start, because then I can kill as many Devils as I want!" he shouted, grinning psychotically himself.

"Same here! And now, let the war begin, Rias Gremory and Sona Sitri!" Kokabiel called, before conjuring bout a dozen spears of light and shooting them at the Devils.

Acting quickly, Keijutsu created a large barrier around them that several of the spears deflected off. However, Kokabiel kept up the barrage and a crack quickly appeared in the barrier. That crack spread until the barrier finally shattered. But at that point another barrier, this one stronger, was made by the combined efforts of Sona, Rias and Akeno.

What spears hit the ground exploded and created a cloud of dirt, blinding all the Devils. When the cloud cleared, both Freed and Kokabiel were gone, causing Issei to grit his teeth. "Dammit, where'd they go?!" he yelled.

Koneko pointed towards the Academy. "I saw them move in that direction. Probably to do just as he said he was going to," she said.

Keijutsu grimaced. "If Kokabiel follows through on his threat to destroy Kuoh, that really will spark a Second Great War."

"Then it's up to us to make sure that doesn't happen. No matter what," Sona said.

* * *

 **CUT! That ends this chapter, and on somewhat of a cliffhanger too. Oh, I am evil, aren't I? Anyway, this chapter was interesting to write, as I wondered what Xenovia and Irina were doing when they searched their side of town, and this was the result. I also tried to find the correct balance between Sona's strictness when it comes to breaking the rules and Keijutsu trying to avoid getting punished without him coming away completely free. Saji ended getting the same punishment as he did in canon, but hey, not everyone wins.**

 **Some progress made with the experiments this chapter, and an advancement of the more action-related parts. We'll definitely see more fighting next chapter, but after that is anyone's guess. So, stay tuned!**

 **Please review! If you flame me then Bruce Lee will smash you with his nunchaku. (I'm just kidding… or am I?)**


	14. Chapter 14: Entertainment

Author's Note: I do not own High School DxD or anything affiliated with it. The rights to it belong solely to their respective owners.

* * *

 **And now, the moment that has long been awaited… the next chapter! Herein lies the further of the canon plot that was resumed last chapter, with more than a little fighting to boot. But before we get to that, we have the replies!**

 **Acesnowlightning: (Says in a thick accent) You ain't seen nothing yet.**

 **Carwash36 and desdelor97: Thank you for your kind words.**

 **Frankieu and Mile De: You're welcome.**

 **Killblade373: You don't say? Now I really will have to check this out. As for Azazel and Keijutsu, they will work together on some future projects, but that won't be for a while.**

 **Ahsoei: I wouldn't say that Issei has been NTR'd, really, as that would involve having his love interests taken away, and I don't intend on messing with those. But has he been taken out of the spotlight? Definitely.**

 **Neo Infinity: Darn, there went another manga that I could have added to my (rather extensive) 'To Read' list.**

 **Tohka123: Ask and ye shall receive.**

 **Mangahero18: To be frank, the fact that you posted that review on Chapter 6, considering what is revealed in Chapter 12… Sometimes, life just hands us ironies too great to be ignored.**

* * *

Chapter 14: Entertainment

"And… that should do it," Keijutsu said, standing up as he finished carving the last rune into the ground. The Student Council and ORC, along with Suzuno, watched as he clasped his hands together and released a pulse of magic energy.

In response, the runes on the ground, which formed a ring around the entire Academy, began lighting up while a magic circle appeared in sky above the center of the school grounds. From that circle, a transparent wall of energy began spreading out and arcing downwards, until it created a dome that sealed off everything inside. Acting quickly, Momo, Reya, Tsubaki, Tomoe, Tsubasa and Ruruko all placed their hands against the barrier, feeding a current of their own magic energy into it.

Wiping his brow, Keijutsu stated "This barrier is specifically designed to repel all energy-related attacks and supernatural beings that come into contact with it. Once we're inside, I'll finish the incantation, and nothing can get in or out after that."

Suzuno nodded. "And you're sure that Kokabiel won't be able to break out of it?" she asked.

"Unless he attacks the barrier itself with his full power, no. But if he does try that, or someone even stronger appears, then it will break down. Same goes for if it's not given a constant stream of energy," the Artificer explained, before shrugging. "This was the best I could do on short notice, but at least it prevents the entire Student Council from having to stay out of the fight to keep the barrier going."

"Then we'll take it, and try to stop Kokabiel with what forces we have," Sona responded, though he could tell that she was grateful all the same.

Issei waved his hand. "Hey, what if Xenovia or Kiba show up? Will they be able to make it inside?" he asked.

Keijutsu sighed. "If that happens, then we can deactivate the barrier for a few seconds in order to let them get through. Any longer, though, and it'll shut down completely."

Sona nodded, before looking over at the redhead. "Rias, there's still time. You can contact Lucifer-sama and ask for his help," she pointed out.

Rias raised an eyebrow. "And what about your own older sibling? Aren't you going to call her?" she asked.

"I… don't think that would be a good idea," Sona said. Indeed, while having Serafall here would greatly increase their chances of victory, the former heir to the Sitri house would not be happy to hear that her sister was in any kind of danger. In fact, Sona didn't even want to _think_ about the kind of damage such a thing could cause, both to the Academy and her sanity.

No, far better to have Sirzechs come help instead. At least _his_ sister complex could be controlled.

"No need to worry about that. I've already contacted Lucifer-sama. Once I explained the situation to him, he said that he'd be able to arrive in no more than an hour," Akeno said. Rias spun around and glared at her Queen angrily. However, before she could speak, Akeno continued "Whether we like it or not, the fact remains that Kokabiel is a Cadre-class Fallen Angel. We simply don't have the raw power to defeat him if he goes all-out. So, we just have to delay him."

Rias thought about that for a moment, before sighing. "Fine, you win," she conceded, before smiling. "This should make for an interesting fight, at least. Let's go," she said.

The rest of them nodded and began moving inside, with the members of the ORC taking point.

* * *

The moment they were on the other side of the barrier, Keijutsu finished the incantation and sealed the Academy off from the rest of the world. Saji and Issei both used **Promotion** to turn themselves into  Queens, and those with Sacred Gears summoned them.

As they drew closer to the school, they were able to see a large golden seal hovering just above the track field. That seal was releasing massive amounts of both holy and magical energy, causing Suzuno's eyes to widen.

"This feeling… I can tell that it's Valper that causing this, and he's doing something with Excalibur. But what?" Suzuno thought aloud.

Before any of them could guess, they heard a familiar voice laughing from above them. Looking towards the sky, they saw that it was none other than Kokabiel, who was lounging on some sort of floating throne.

"If you're so curious, right now Valper is undergoing a ritual that will fuse all of the acquired fragments of Excalibur he has back into a single weapon. Once he does, it's power will be near that of the original Holy Sword," he said casually.

Keijutsu's eyes widened. He had already seen just how strong Excalibur Destruction and Mimic had been, and those were just two pieces of the blade. If what Kokabiel was saying was true, how were Devils like them going to withstand something with that level of strength?

Unaware of these thoughts, Kokabiel added "So, is Sirzechs finally on his way? Or am I waiting for Little Miss Leviathan?"

Sona and Rias both stepped forward, Sona with her usual focused expression and Rias with a smirk. "Right now, we're the ones you need to concern yourselves with," Sona declared.

That garnered a sigh from the Fallen Angel, who conjured a spear of light in one hand. "How boring," he replied, before throwing the spear in the direction of the gym.

The moment the spear hit, it exploded in blast that destroyed the gym much like how Akeno did during the Rating Game. But this time, rather than simply reduce the building to rubble, Kokabiel completely annihilated it, leaving only a massive crater behind.

All the Devils present stared at the place where their gymnasium had, until five seconds ago, still existed. However, they refocused on Kokabiel when he said "I need something to keep me entertained. And since you're here, watching you fight my pets should prove amusing!"

With that said, he conjured a pair of his own magic circles on the ground beneath him. Rather than wait and see what came out of them, Keijutsu willed the seals on his arms to activate, and unleashed twin steams of fire at the circles.

That attack proved useless when a pillar of flames erupted from each circle, and his attack merely combined with the flames being produced. After a few seconds, however, the fire dispersed, revealing what Kokabiel had summoned. It was a pair of dogs, each one as tall as a house and as long as a bus, with flames dripping from the mouths on each of their three heads.

It was easy to identify what these monsters were, but they did leave Keijutsu wondering something. "Since when was Cerberus more than one being?" he muttered.

Sona heard him though, and said "There are several entrances to the Underworld, so there exists a Cerberus at each one to act as a guard dog. But that's precisely where they're supposed to stay—in the Underworld."

"Then let's send it back!" Saji said, and fired his **Absorption Line** at one of them. He was forced to retract it and move to the side when that Cerberus breathed a column of flames at him, scorching the ground where the  Pawn had been standing.

The other one released a trio of fire-streams at Akeno, but she responded with a blast of ice magic strong enough to literally turn the flames and surrounding water vapor into ice. The Cerberus bit down on the ice and shattered it, but that gave Rias the chance to hit with a wave of her Power of Destruction. The beast howled and staggered back from the hit. While the move hadn't disintegrated it, it was still injured.

Seeing the ORC focus their efforts on that Cerberus, Keijutsu turned his attention to the first one, and conjured a pair of pocket-watches in each hand. ' _Never thought I'd use my failed prototypes for something like this_ ,' before activating them and throwing the watches at Cerberus.

As expected, each one created their own isolation sphere and began building up heat. However, in the seconds it took them to fly through the air towards Cerberus, they quickly began destabilizing as the heat in them spiked, before exploding in a total of four blasts, one that hit each of its heads and the center of its chest.

The tri-headed monster snarled and its leftmost head spat a fireball at him, which he blocked with a screen of energy. Another one tried to do the same to Sona, but she merely created an equally large orb of water and shot it forwards.

The two attacks canceled each other out and created a large cloud of smoke. Cerberus was about to leap through that cloud when a large tongue, courtesy of Saji's Sacred Gear, wrapped around one of its hind legs. "Take this, you mangy flea-bag!" he yelled, and began draining its energy.

Cerberus growled and two of its heads faced him, but then Keijutsu created an orb of light within his hands. "Cover your eyes!" he yelled, and Saji and Sona did just that. Then he shot the orb at Cerberus, waiting until it was right in front of its face to detonate it. The effects of the blast replicated that of a stun grenade, blinding the monster with a flash of light and temporarily causing it to go deaf.

Suzuno used that moment to charge and deal a punishing blow with her hammer, hitting the center head and shattering nearly half of its teeth. The beast whimpered, and the other two heads instinctively belched fire at her, forcing her to move back.

Sona held her hands out to her sides, and a large mass of water began forming in front of her. In a matter of seconds, that water assumed a somewhat humanoid shape, barring the fact that it was as tall as Cerberus. She directed the construct to charge at the beast, and when it did, Cerberus tried to bite the water creature. But its fangs simply passed right through it. However, when the creation swung and punched it in the side, the blow was very much solid.

At that point, Cerberus decided that it apparently had enough, and all three heads roared in unison. It spun around and yanked Saji along for the ride. He shouted and deactivated his **Absorption Line** before he could get smacked into a nearby tree, freeing Cerberus to move. Then it unleashed three continuous streams of fire on Sona's water construct, reducing it to smoke. Finally, with its two biggest threats taken care of it, it leaped through the air at Keijutsu.

His eyes widened and he yelled, "Shit!" before using a magic circle to warp out of the way. Cerberus landed where he had been standing and looked around, trying to find him.

What it found was Suzuno, who had jumped onto its back and was running towards its heads. "This should keep you down!" she called, and swung down to smash her hammer into the tip of its spine. There was a muffled _crunch_ , and Cerberus yelped in pain. It tried to turn its heads to bite at her, but it suddenly found that, with the injury to its spine, it could hardly move any of its heads at all.

"Great work, Suzuno-san!" Sona called, creating ten spinning discs of water. She threw them at the beast, each disc sounding very much like a buzz-saw as flew through the air. They cut deeply into Cerberus's flesh, leaving it with gashes all over its body.

Suzuno nodded and raised her hammer once more. She sung down and hit the leftmost head right over its brain, nearly caving in its skull. Cerberus whimpered and tried to reach over to bite her, but it still couldn't. Saji reapplied his **Absorption Line** and drained it of its remaining energy, forcing it to the ground.

That was when Keijutsu reappeared, having used the magic circle to transport himself behind a nearby tree and out of Cerberus's sight. "Well, looks like this thing's done," he said, holding up his hand and creating a spear made of ice to stab through its heart.

Just before he could, however, the ground beneath Cerberus suddenly erupted as almost a dozen different swords burst out of it, skewering the beast and killing it.

"What the-?" Saji said, before looking over to see Kiba approaching them, one sword in each hand. Quickly putting two and two together, he called "Hey, that was our fight!"

Kiba chuckled and rubbed the back of his head. "Right. Sorry about that. I kind of wanted to make an entrance, and that was the best way," he said somewhat bashfully.

Keijutsu sighed, tossing his ice spear away. "Well, at least you're here at all, which makes our odds of surviving a little better. Did Xenovia-san come with you?" he asked.

As if to answer his question, he both felt and heard an explosion going off behind him. Turning around, he saw that the other Cerberus was now missing a head, with a smoking stump where it had been, and Xenovia was on the ground in front of it. The other two heads roared in rage and tried to attack her, but then Rias and Akeno—both of them given strength from Issei's **Boosted Gear** —used their lightning magic and Power of Destruction to wipe it from existence.

With both monsters dealt with, Issei grinned. "That was awesome! We totally beat those things!" he cheered.

However, Kokabiel chose that moment to interject himself back into the conversation, saying "Just taking down my pets hardly qualifies as 'awesome'," he sneered.

Realizing that their true enemy had yet to move from his floating throne, Rias quickly fired a massive blast of Power of Destruction, made all the more lethal by the energy Issei had given her. It flew towards the Fallen Angel at blistering speeds, ready to destroy him so thoroughly that not even ash remained… and he simply batted it aside.

The attack flew off course and hit the school's tennis court, creating a massive explosion that enveloped both the court and the surrounding area. When the blast faded, all that was left was another large crater.

Keijutsu gulped. If Kokabiel could take an attack like that and push it away like a fly, there was almost nothing he had that could do anything. Focused as he was on trying to build things, he had never developed any uses for magic that were meant to purely destroy something. And even if he did, he wasn't sure that it would have worked.

Kokabiel grinned and rose to his feet. "So, you were able to become that much stronger just from having the Red Dragon Emperor lend you some power. No wonder Azazel spends all his time researching these things; I have to say I'm impressed," he stated.

But before the villain could go into a full monologue, they all sensed the holy energy in the area spike dramatically. Looking over at where Valper was still conducting his ritual, the saw that quartet of magic circles fade, and a pillar of golden shot straight upwards, passing right through the barrier and continuing on.

Valper cackled manically. "It's finally done! These four pieces of Excalibur have become one!" he cried. The light pillar began shrinking until it was eventually gone. In its place was a single sword, which did indeed look like an amalgamation of several other swords, and was releasing enough holy energy that it was saturating the air around it with a golden glow.

"Well, it's about time that we finished making that thing. Now I'll have more than enough power to remove this town from the map. And when I do, nothing will stop the Great War from being restarted. Unless, of course…" the Fallen Angel began, before spreading all ten of his wings and willing his throne to disappear. "You think you actually stand a chance! Freed!"

"You called? I'm right here!" Freed Sellzen called, popping up out of seemingly nowhere and walking over to stand next to Valper.

"This is my last bit of entertainment before I join the fight. Use this Fused Excalibur and try to kill these Devils," he ordered.

Freed grinned like a child in a candy store, and even saluted the Fallen Angel. "I would love nothing more!" he said, and pulling the Fused Excalibur out of the ground. The moment he did, the golden aura around the blade spread and covered his arms as well, causing Freed's own energy to begin increasing. "Now, who wants to get penetrated first?!" he yelled, making it very clear that he was aware of the innuendo in what he just said.

"The only one dying today is you!" Suzuno called, dashing forward and swinging with her hammer. Xenovia was right behind him, going for an overhead blow with Excalibur Destruction.

But then Freed blurred from sight and reappeared behind them, calling "Not fast enough!" They turned around, he waved his sword at them. "One of the swords that went into this puppy is Excalibur Rapidly. With it, I now have super speed!" he declared happily, before blurring from sight again.

Suzuno was ready this time, and swung her hammer into the ground in front of her. Freed was forced to stop to avoid being flattened, and Xenovia chose that moment to hit him with horizontal cut across his chest.

Freed shout in pain and staggered back, holding up a hand to his chest. When that hand came away red, he glared at both girls. "You two-bit bitches! You actually fucking cut me! I'm going to turn you to mincemeat for that!" he yelled, before the sword itself changed shape and turned into a set of four whips.

Those whips then swung at Xenovia and Suzuno, forcing them back to avoid the attacks coming from multiple angles. To make things worse, Freed then called "Now you see the power of Excalibur Mimic that I got from your friend. Next, let's see how you like Excalibur Nightmare!"

The sword's glow increased and Freed was surrounded flanked by several copies of himself, all illusions that the Fused Excalibur let him create. The real version and the copies began attacking the two holy maidens, forcing them to put everything they had into just staying on the defensive.

Keijutsu grunted. ' _Increased speed, shapeshifting, illusions and—if what Sona told me is true—even invisibility. And that one sword enables them all. Even if getting hit by that thing could spell the end of me, I can't stand by and do nothing. If I do, not even those two will beat him,_ ' he thought.

Apparently, Koneko and Issei were of similar thoughts, as Koneko picked up Issei and threw him at Freed. "Hey, you've still got use to deal with, you jack-wagon!" Issei shouted, distracting Freed long enough for Issei to kick him in the face.

Keijutsu joined in and sent a blast of compressed sound at the rogue priest, forcing him back and causing to cover his ears to stop the ringing. But when he tried to press the advantage, Freed sped away and stood near Valper, who in turn was standing in front of Kiba.

"I had heard that one of the test subject from my Holy Sword Project escaped. It is tragic to see that you survived only to be reborn as a piece of Devil filth," Valper stated, making Kiba grit his teeth.

"You bastard!" he yelled, ready to cut the man before him down and obtain his long-desired revenge.

But just before he could, Valper's next words caused him to freeze. "That said, I am grateful to you and the others. You gave me the data and materials I needed to complete the Project."

Kiba's eyes widened. "Complete it…?" he said.

Valper nodded. "The entire point of the project was to figure out how to enable more people to be able to wield Holy Swords. However, the reason none of the test subjects could was because they lacked the ability to generate holy energy on their own, which is precisely what's needed. Or rather, they _could_ generate their own holy energy, but not nearly in enough quantities to wield a Holy Sword," he explained.

Then he grinned fiendishly. "So, I came up with a solution. I would just extract the energy from all the test subjects that could produce any amount at all! And once I did, I developed a method to crystallize the energy and make it possible for others to wield it!" Valper said, and pulled a medium-size blue crystal from his robes.

"This is the last crystal I was able to make before the Project was shut down. If I recall correctly, it was those same children you were with that I used to make it," he revealed.

The eyes of both holy maidens went huge. "That crystal… is that…?" Suzuno began.

Xenovia nodded. "Yes. Those of us that train to be Holy Sword users are given that same kind of crystal on completing their training. It's what enables us to use the swords," she said, shocked.

Valper heard them, and snorted. "So, after excommunicating me and branding me a traitor, they still used the fruits of my research? Why am I not surprised? Though, knowing how soft-hearted Michael is, he probably just had the Church start extracting the energy _without_ killing the people they get it from," he said.

Kiba glared at him. "There was no need to kill any of us either! So why did you have it done?" he demanded.

The former priest shrugged. "You and the other children were material for the Project, no different than a test tube or bottle of acid. Once we had what we needed, we disposed of you like any other used equipment. It's as simple as that," he said.

Then he threw the crystal in his hand at Kiba, who quickly caught it. "Keep that one if you want. In the years since then, the Church has been developed methods for producing more-concentrated crystals on a mass scale. No more sacrifices required."

Keijutsu looked at Valper in disgust. While he could not fault Valper for willing to put his own career at risk to perform an experiment, everything else about the man struck him as heinous. The lives of others were not to be used for the sake of research without their consent, and they were to be given due respect for that sacrifice.

Not once, in all the research he ever performed, did Keijutsu waste innocent lives. Yet not only did Valper do this, but the people whose lives he took didn't even understand why they were being used. They thought that they had been 'chosen' by God, and endured untold agony for that one reason.

"That… is despicable," he said, walking forward. Both Valper and Freed noticed him, and he stepped between them and Kiba.

"Valper Galilei, you are a blight to all who would act in the pursuit of knowledge. Your vile methods and lack of empathy drag the very idea of research through the mud, and sully the image of those who would research for mankind's benefit. There will be no more debate, no more arguments. For now, you've given me no choice… but to exterminate you," he declared.

Valper frowned. "In that case, you can be the one to die first," he said, and gestured for Freed to attack. He gladly did so, and charged at Keijutsu with a battle cry. He swung down with his Fused Excalibur, ready to cleave him in two… and Keijutsu simply leaned to the side.

The attack passed right by him and, before Freed could react, he reached forward and grabbed the stray priest by the front of his robes. Looking into Keijutsu's eyes, he could see that there was no longer any compassion, any warmth. In its place, behind those lilac-colored eyes, was nothing but anger and steel.

"Stay out of my way," he said, and unleashed a point-blank blast of Devil energy strong enough to send Freed flying right out of his grip. Scraps of his robes were still held in Keijutsu's hands as he went sailing through the air, landing in front of Valper with a large, smoldering burn covering the entire front of his torso.

With Freed momentarily out for the count, Keijutsu was about to take aim at Valper when he sensed something behind him, and turned around.

Kiba was standing there, the crystal no longer in his hands but his entire body enveloped in a glow that matched the crystal's color. Masses of blue particles of light surrounded him, briefly taking the form of the children whose energy had composed it. The other children from the Holy Sword Project.

One, a little girl who couldn't have been more than five, smiled innocently at him before vanishing. Another girl appeared, this one saying, " _It's alright_ ," before she was replaced by a girl who said " _We're together now_." A boy manifested, who said " _The time has come. Let us in_." The same girl who smiled at him added on, saying " _Even if God's no longer here, you don't have to be afraid_."

An older boy said, " _Though His gaze may not be watching over us…_ " before they all said in unison " _Our hearts beat as one_."

Kiba stared at them all, before smiling as tears ran down his face. "You're right," he said.

Keijutsu stared. The ghosts of the children vanished, as did the glow around Kiba. Even so, he could sense the blonde's power rising, and how reality itself seemed to be trying to act against it. But Kiba's will was great enough that it overcome that. ' _Almost as if his own desires are breaking the natural order of the world. Wait. A breaking of the natural balance… His Sacred Gear's Balance Breaker_ ,' he thought.

Kiba opened his eyes, looking straight at Valper. "My loved ones, they never wanted me to be an avenger. All they wanted was my freedom. But I won't be free. Not until I put an end to the evil I'm standing before. Then none will have to suffer as I did," he said, before looking over at Keijutsu. "And you're free to help."

Keijutsu chuckled. Leave to him to have his thunder stolen. Oh, well. As long as Valper died, he was fine with it. "Then let's make sure he suffers," he said.

Now realizing the trouble he was in—and highly doubting that Kokabiel was going to come to his rescue—Valper began backing away. Luckily, Freed was starting to get back up, even if breathing was getting difficult due to the injury to his front.

Keijutsu ignored that and began preparing the seals on his arms while Kiba summoned one of his swords. Said sword was wreathed in both holy and Devil energy, the two opposing elements acting in synch within one blade.

As the two of them closed in on Valper, they were joined by Suzuno and Xenovia. "As a member of the Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, it is my job to punish rogue priests like this one. I will help," Suzuno said.

Both Keijutsu and Kiba nodded, and Xenovia stabbed her sword into the ground. "One piece of Excalibur won't be enough against four others. I need something more," she said, reached out to her side with her right hand.

"Oh Peter, oh Basil and Denis, and the Virgin Mary, blessed is she. I ask that you answer my prayers," she said. To Keijutsu's surprise, a magic circle unlike any he had yet seen appeared. From that circle, a massive sword wrapped in chains emerged, one whose output of holy energy surpassed even the Fused Excalibur's. Xenovia grasped it, and called "In the name of the saints, I set you free!"

That last chant caused the chains holding the sword to shatter, and Xenovia pulled it free. "Now, Sellzen, you have to face the might of Durandal!" she said, moving into a combat stance.

' _Durandal. One of the four great Holy Swords, alongside Ascalon, Caliburn and the original Excalibur. Not only that, but of the four, it's stated to have the highest potential for unleashing pure destruction. Impressive_ ,' Keijutsu thought.

Freed growled. "It doesn't matter how many Holy Swords you bring to the fight. I won't lose to the likes of you!" he called, and had his weapon changed into multiple whips again before sending them all at Xenovia. But she simply swung and cut right through them, the power of her Holy Sword easily surpassing his.

Then the bluenette charged at him, calling "Your weapon isn't even the True Excalibur, just a pale imitation. It won't defeat me!" and swinging at me.

"Oh, just go die in ditch somewhere!" Freed yelled. He used Excalibur Rapidly to avoid the blow, and went after Suzuno. "I've decided that I don't like any of you!" he said, and swung at her.

But not only did she block the attack, but Kiba appeared behind him. "I can safely say that we share the feeling!" he said, and struck. But Kiba was not only able to keep up with him, but with a shout he slammed his Holy-Demonic sword into the Fused Excalibur… and Excalibur broke.

Freed fell back, staring at the stump that had just been his new weapon. "Are you fucking kidding right now? What kind of Holy Sword BREAKS?!" he screamed.

"No idea, but I do know one thing," he heard Keijutsu say. Turning around, he saw that the Bishop was right in front of him, and already had a spell ready to go. "I definitely recall telling you to stay out of my way!" Keijutsu said, and unleashed another blast, this time of both ice and wind.

Freed was sent sliding back across the ground, ice forming over his arms, clothes and parts of his head. The cold sapped away his remaining strength until he fell to his knees, at which point he glared hatefully at the four of them. "How could I be brought down by a pair of holy twats and two Devils…" he muttered, before falling over as his body finally gave in.

Meanwhile, Valper tried to think of how his plans went so terribly wrong. "How can this be? Not only are the odds of someone who can use Durandal appearing one in a million, but Holy and Devil elements should never be fuse- Ah!" he said, falling onto his backside when Kiba turned towards him.

But rather than be afraid, his eyes widened as he realized the truth. "Yes, something like that could only be possible if the balance between light and darkness were disrupted. Which means that not only did the original Lucifer die in the Great War, but so did- GAH!" he said, before he was interrupted once more, this time by a spear of light piercing him from behind.

Keijutsu looked towards the only one who could have done it, and saw that Kokabiel did indeed have his arm extended, as if he had just thrown it. "You really were a smart one, Galilei. Too smart, apparently," the Fallen Angel stated.

Sona frowned. "And what exactly were you trying to keep Valper from revealing?" she asked.

Rather than answer her, Kokabiel sighed. "You know, somehow I'm even more bored than I was before. Tell you what, I'll let you get a free shot in before I start killing you. I'm curious to see if you'd actually be able to injure me, being as weak as you all are. Go ahead, give it a try," he said mockingly.

The Devils collectively glared at him, but weren't going to reject an offer like that. However, while Rias instructed Issei to activate his **Booster Gear** as many times as he was able to, Keijutsu gestured for Sona and Saji to come closer.

Once they did, Sona asked "What is it? Do you have something that could defeat him?"

Keijutsu sighed and rubbed his head. "I have one offensive spell I've been working on. It might—and that's a _really_ big 'might'-be able to destroy Kokabiel. But not only does it take almost a full minute to prepare, but it costs more magical energy than I have even when I'm completely rested and recovered. Plus, I need to directly place my hand on Kokabiel for it to work," he said.

Saji thought about that for a moment, before looking at his Sacred Gear. "Well I've still got some extra energy from when I drained that Cerberus. If I transferred that energy to you along with everything I've got, will that be enough?" he asked.

Keijutsu did a quick set up calculations in his head, before nodding. Sona added on, saying "Kokabiel said that we'd get one free hit, and Rias's Power of Destruction is still the strongest move our group has. But… should it fail, I can use the blast as a distraction to transport you right behind him, and that's when you can lay your hands on him."

"Sounds like a plan," he replied, and placed both of his hands together. The seals on his arms glowed brighter than ever before, and he began muttering a set of incantations. While he did, Saji had the **Absorption Line** wrap around his wrist, and the  Pawn began transferring his strength to Keijutsu.

At the same time, Rias and Issei were walking forward. Kokabiel let them move as slowly as possible in order to give Issei more time to increase his power before he transferred it all to Rias. Once he finally reached his limit, he asked "Ready, Rias?"

"Always," the redhead replied, and he nodded. The **Boosted Gear** called out " _Transfer!_ " and Issei squeeze Rias's hand, letting all his power flow into her. Once that was done, he only had enough time to step back before a large Gremory magic circle appeared beneath Rias, while a green glow appeared over her body and her eyes shined red.

To go with this change, Rias's power skyrocketed, shooting way past its previous level of High-Class and reaching into the ranks of an Ultimate-Class Devil. The abrupt shift caused the surrounding air pressure to almost double, and Kokabiel laughed at the feeling.

"Finally, this has gotten interesting! With the strength you have at this moment, you'd be on par with your own older brother!" he told her.

Rias didn't respond and crossed her arms, generating two smaller magic circles over each hand. Those circles began spinning rapidly as an orb of Power of Destruction appeared over both of them, before she combined those orbs to form a single massive one. She compressed as much of her own power and the power Issei gave her into the blast as she could, her entire body trembling as she struggled to keep it all compact.

"In that case, die!" she called, and unleashed it all in a single monolithic blast. It flew towards Kokabiel at a speed unmatched by any other, the mass of power actually taking the form of a dragon as it flew towards the Fallen Angel. Behind him, Sona readied to teleport Keijutsu behind Kokabiel, and waited.

Kokabiel simply hovered there and smiled as the attack flew forward and hit him dead-on. He held his hands forward and the Power of Destruction hit him like freight train, almost causing him to lose his balance. It enveloped him, and he laughed, yelling "Almost as good as Sirzechs!"

Rias growled and tried pushing more power into the attack, trying to overwhelm Kokabiel and destroy him. But… no mater, how much power she put into it… no mater what she did… Kokabiel still laughed.

Finally, once she had given him everything she had and more, Rias lowered her arms and collapsed to the ground. But she wasn't done yet, and called "Akeno!"

"Right! Take this!" Akeno called, and unleashed a large bolt of lightning at Kokabiel. But he folded his wings around himself like a cocoon, and the attack dispersed harmlessly along their surface. However, he did stop laughing and raised an eyebrow.

"This power… you wouldn't happen to be related to Baraqiel by any chance, would you?" he asked.

Akeno released a rather uncharacteristic snarl, and shouted "Don't ever say his name! I have nothing to do with that man!" Then she upped the amperage and increased the size of her lightning bolt, trying to fry the Fallen Angel alive. But much like Rias, not even she could deal a decisive blow.

"Ha ha ha! Truly, your house is an interesting one, Rias Gremory. The Red Dragon Emperor, a former Church test subject, and even Baraqiel's dau-" he began, before stopping when he sensed Keijutsu behind him.

Whipping around, he managed to grab the Artificer's left wrist before he could land a hit. And when he tried to hit Kokabiel with an open palm to the chest, he deflected the blow with his forearm. "Pathetic," he said, before turning and releasing Keijutsu long enough to kick him in the stomach.

Keijutsu cried out in pain and flew back, hitting the ground and skidding across it for another ten meters before stopping. "Kei!" Sona called, and she and Saji towards him.

Kokabiel grunted. "Truly, that was a sad display. If not even something like those last two attacks could hurt me, what makes you think you could?" he asked demeaningly.

The white-haired Bishop grunted and managed to sit up, ignoring how it felt like his chest just had an eighteen-wheeler dropped on it. "Because… I made contact," he managed to say.

Kokabiel frowned and was about to ask what he meant by that. However, at that exact moment, he became aware of a tingling sensation not unlike pins and needles on his left forearm. The same forearm he had deflected Keijutsu's attack with.

Looking down, he was astonished to see that not only as the section of his clothes over his forearm gone, but his forearm seemed to be… disintegrating?

"What in the world?!" Kokabiel yelled, channeling a current of holy energy to his arm. However, that did absolutely nothing to stop his arm from slowly breaking apart like a statue made of sand, causing him to glare at Keijutsu. "Explain this, now!"

Wiping away a trickle of blood from his mouth, Keijutsu smirked. "It doesn't matter if you're a God or a Devil, a human or an Angel. If you have a physical body, then that body is composed of the same elements as everyone else. Those elemental particles—or atoms, if you prefer—they're what make up all matter, not including subatomic particles. That spell takes the atoms making up your body and separate them from each other. In short, you're being atomized," he said.

Kokabiel's eyes widened. This little brat was taking all atoms that made up his body… and having them come apart. "I don't think so!" he yelled. Since the use of energy didn't stop the spell, he went for something more barbaric and grabbed the flesh around his forearm that was atomizing and ripped it off.

But not only did that fail, as the atomization had already reached his bones, but coming into contact with it caused the tip of the fingers on his right hand to also begin breaking apart.

"No!" he roared, and conjured a light spear in his left hand to slice the affected flesh off. But just before he could, the atomization in his left arm reach his elbow, and everything below that simply fell off.

"Dammit!" the Fallen Angel yelled. Starting to slightly panic, Kokabiel tried to think of something to do. If he didn't find a way to nullify this spell, it would spread until it reached his chest, and from there it could reach the rest of his body, until he was atomized completely. Not even he could come back from that.

But how? Looking at his right fingers and what was left of his left arm, an idea came to him. It would hurt, oh it would definitely hurt, but it would stop this damn spell from spreading and killing him.

With that in mind, he conjured another light spear in his right hand and, after taking a deep breath, stabbed down and severed the entire remainder of his left arm below the shoulder. Then, before the pain could catch up to him, he created another spear between his teeth and cut off his right hand.

That was when the pain caught up to him, and he screamed in pain at the sudden loss of his hand and arm. Everyone watching stared as he tried to stop the bleeding, and eventually succeeded. When he finally stopped bleeding and had his heartbeat back under control, he glared at Keijutsu.

"You… insolent… BRAT!" he roared, and flew down at Keijutsu. Before he could get there, he was stopped by Kiba and Xenovia, both of whom had yet to attack.

Kiba swung at him with his Holy-Demonic Sword and Kokabiel blocked it with his shoulder. But then Kiba conjured another one with his free hand, and Kokabiel leaned back just late enough for it to cut him across the check.

The Cadre snarled, starting to become well and truly pissed off. He created seven spears of light around himself and launched them at Kiba, who wouldn't be able to move fast enough to avoid them. Luckily, Xenovia ran between them, and cut right through the spears with her Durandal.

Glaring at her, Kokabiel said "You fight so hard, even if your side doesn't even realize that their Father is gone!"

Suzuno's breath caught as she raised her hammer, and looked at him. "What do you mean?" she asked.

Kokabiel blinked, his anger dissipating as he realized what he just said, and grimaced. "Well, shit. I wasn't supposed to tell you that," he muttered. He chuckled at that, before that chuckling grew into full on laughter.

He tried raising his hand to rub his forehead, but then stopped once he realized that he no longer had hands. His good mood going right back out the window, he frowned. "I killed Valper because he figured it out. But I suppose if I am starting a war, there's no reason for me not to say it," he reckoned, before looking at all of them.

"During the Great War, we all know that the original Lucifer, Leviathan, Beelzebub and Asmodeus were all killed. But what was kept secret was that the Biblical God died as well!" he declared.

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 **That's where this chapter ends. I really have been having a thing for cliffhangers lately. But this chapter was already almost a thousand words over what had I planned (when one battle spans multiple episodes and consists of several smaller battles, than can happen) and I didn't want to it to get too much longer. Though this does mean that you have a very good idea of what will happen next chapter, so look forward to that!**

 **Please review! If you flame me then Bruce Lee will smash you with his nunchaku. (I'm just kidding… or am I?)**


	15. Chapter 15: Aftermath

Author's Note: I do not own High School DxD or anything affiliated with it. The rights to it belong solely to their respective owners.

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 **Back from beyond, I am, with a new chapter to behold! This one kind of wraps up the Kokabiel arc, after which we'll have some of my original stuff and then, eventually the Faction meeting. But first… replies!**

 **Ahsoei: No, I didn't get the idea of the atomization spell from Infinity War. But now that I've actually seen the film, I can say that my visualization of the spell was a lot like that.**

 **Tohka123: Yeah, I was trying to think of a clever move Keijutsu could pull, and remembered that his failed devices always exploded. So, I thought, 'Why not?'**

 **Desdelor97, Beowolfalien and Oniele: Thank you for your kind words.**

 **Janed12000: Yeah, revealing what your ability does after using it is a somewhat common and rather dumb move in anime. I did it to show that Keijutsu, while smart and innovative, does not always make genius decisions, and that he can get caught up in his own success. If he didn't yes, Kokabiel might have died then and there.**

 **Striderm8: The atomization spell will be kept as a last resort for now, since the energy cost of it is so ridiculously high compared to his current level of power. Though that could change in the future.**

 **Frankieu: Turning the atomization spell into an AoE-type attack? Now** _ **that**_ **sounds interesting. *Grins while I begin plotting***

 **And dandraft15: I understand. I don't expect every person who reads this story is fall in love with it. If you feel my story is not of your taste, that's fine. I commend you for being polite about it, and wish you the best as well.**

 **And now, we begin!**

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Chapter 15: Aftermath

The first thing Keijutsu noticed was the silence.

In the wake of Kokabiel's big reveal, not a single person said a word. After all, what was there to say? According to the Fallen Angel before them, God was dead. And not 'dead', as in he was absent, but 'dead' is in truly dead. Deceased. No longer living. Et cetera.

Normally, upon hearing such a revelation, a person would be horrified. Deny it. Accuse Kokabiel of lying. Or simply suffer a nervous breakdown. In Keijutsu's case, it had the opposite effect. His shock was so great that his mind didn't have any room for any other emotion. And without any emotion to occupy his mind, it went to the very thing he had become most accustomed to doing over the years. Analyzing.

' _God is dead. Heaven has no leader. This was kept secret. If God is dead, there would be a power vacuum in Heaven. There would be no one to command the Angels. But Angels are still alive. And Sacred Gears still work. Someone must have taken God's place. Michael. Michael was the strongest of the Angels. He would take God's place. But he's not a strong as God, which is why something like a Holy-Demonic Sword can exist_ ,' he thought, simply sitting there.

However, while his mind had become so used to analyzing things that it was what he did when shocked, his mind was not the same as others. Indeed, one of the Devils in attendance did take the well-trod path of denial. That someone was Rias.

"You're lying! I've never even heard of such is thing! How is God being dead even possible?!" she shouted.

Kokabiel, temporarily returning to his smug demeanor, explained "During the Great War, the original Satans were wiped out along with most of the 72 Pillars. That's why, nowadays, pure-blooded Devils are a very rare thing. Likewise, the Angels and Fallen Angels lost almost every single one of their members, except for the strongest of them. And without God to make new Angels, their numbers have only slowly dropped since then."

"No way… It can't be…" Saji muttered, completely blown away. No surprise there though, considering that Saji himself had a Sacred Gear. Something that, if Michael hadn't taken the job, would theoretically be impossible.

Kokabiel kept going. "All three factions were decimated to the point that we now have to rely on _humans_ to survive. But if those same humans were to find out about God being dead, they'd stop believing in Him, and the Angels would be doomed. So, the leaders of the Three Factions decided to keep the news of God's death a secret," he told them.

Suzuno fell to her knees, dropping her hammer. "I can't believe… I… I…" she muttered weakly.

Oblivious to her horror, or simply not caring, the Cadre continued "Now, bear in mind that I don't give a rat's ass about any of that. What upsets me is that, after God and the Satans died, everyone decided that then was the perfect time to _end_ the War! And the Fallen agreed to that, even though we were clearly winning! What kind of assholes would call for a cease-fire just when things were getting good!? What the fuck, Azazel!"

He yelled that last part at the sky, now back to being pissed off.

Sona gently laid me on my back and stood up. "Wait a minute. If God is dead, then how are humans still being born with Sacred Gears? Without Him to keep things going, that should have ended a long time ago," she pointed out.

Kokabiel scoffed. "Michael has been doing a passable job at keeping things together. He's been leading the Angels since the Great War. And as long as _someone_ keeps the Heavenly System and Sacred Gears systems running, humans will still be born with Sacred Gears and prayers will still work," he told her.

Apparently, that proved to too much for Asia, as she fainted and would had fallen over had Koneko not caught her. Xenovia looked back at her, before ahead at Kokabiel. "And that's why you want to restart the War. Not just to satisfy your own bloodlust, but because you know that Heaven is weakened, and wouldn't be able to survive if the Great War resumed," she said.

Kokabiel nodded, and Keijutsu considered the situation. All in all, unless someone really strong burst onto the scene and defeated Kokabiel for them, they were through.

Asia was unconscious, Xenovia and Suzuno were one step away from joining her, and Kiba was exhausted from both the emotional toll taken on him today and unleashing his Balance Breaker for the first time. Rias and Akeno didn't have enough power even when Issei transferred his power to them, and Saji would get killed before he could drain any significant amount of energy. Plus, he was running completely on empty after having destroyed Kokabiel's left arm and right hand.

Really, the only ones who could still fight would be Sona and, thanks to his strength constantly being brought back up due to being doubled, Issei himself. And even together, they wouldn't be strong enough to take down Kokabiel.

Said Fallen Angel grinned and spread his wings. "Well, get ready, because here I come!" he called, and flew forward.

It was at that exact moment that Keijutsu sensed something try to break past the barricade. It held for a brief moment, before the strength of the barrier was strangely cut in half, and then whoever was trying to get inside promptly shattered the barrier into a million pieces.

Looking towards where the culprit was, everyone in attendance saw that their unexpected guest had taken the form of a bright orb of light, one that slowly descended towards them. That orb glowed before resolving into suit of armor. It completely covered the user's form, giving no indication if they were male or female.

Meanwhile, the armor was composed of shining white plates of segmented metal, as well as several glowing blue gems along the chest and legs. There was a set of artificial claws and a spiked tail, and the whole outfit was completed by a pair of bright blue wings that extended from the wearer's back.

"Wait a minute. Haven't I seen that before…?" Keijutsu muttered trying to think of when he did.

He got his answer when Kokabiel grimaced, saying "The Vanishing Dragon. Why is he here?"

' _Ah, that's where. That armor is very similar to the Scale Mail that Issei used to defeat Riser. Which makes sense, I suppose, given that the_ _ **Boosted Gear**_ _and_ _ **Divine Dividing**_ _are supposed to be mirrors of each other_ ,' he thought.

Deciding to put the thought away and watch, he was treated to the sight of the Vanishing Dragon shooting forward at speeds that would have put a jet to shame. Only instead of targeting the Red Dragon Emperor like one would think, he went straight for Kokabiel. Before he could react, the newcomer grabbed two of his wings and ripped them right out of his back, creating a shower of blood, gore and black feathers.

Kokabiel screamed in pain and landed back on the ground, while the Vanishing Dragon looked down at him both figuratively and literally.

"Those wings of yours are like a crow. Black, but vile and filthy. Nothing like Azazel's, whose wings evoke the image of an eternal night sky," the stranger said, their voice confirming them to be male.

The Cardre snarled and rose back into the air. Raising what was left of his right arm over his head, he created a massive spear of light with several rings around it. "You bastard! I'll rip to pieces!" he roared, and fired the spear. Those watching gasped; a spear of that size could wipe out the entire school if it hit.

The Vanishing Dragon's response to the incoming attack was to extend his left hand, which began glowing the same blue as his wings. A deep disembodied voice called " _Divide!_ " and the spear suddenly shrank to half its size. This process was repeated, over and over, until it was hardly larger than a toothpick. The spear hit his armor and promptly fizzled out of existence, leaving Kokabiel gaping.

"What in all the hells have you done?!" he yelled.

Deciding that such a question was worth a response, the wielder of **Divine Dividing** said "This is the power of my Sacred Gear. After I've made physical contact with an opponent, it can reduce their power to a half every ten seconds. That power is then used to restore my own reserves, restoring my strength at your expense."

Keijutsu hummed. So, it truly was the **Boosted Gear's** opposite. Instead of multiplying the user's power by two and then giving that accumulated power away, this Sacred Gear cut the power of enemy by halve and retained it for the user alone. Fascinating.

"Tell me, are you still bored now? Azazel told me to take you in for your disobedience to the Grigori, so let me make this more fun for you!" he called, and flew forward again. Like last time, he was too fast for Kokabiel to react, and the he paid for that with a punishing blow to the stomach.

Kokabiel spat out blood and flew back, creating a large magic circle. "In that case, let me send him your corpse as a present!" he yelled, and unleashed a barrage of light spears. Not that the move did any good, as the Vanishing Dragon simply halved each of their power again and again until it was like getting hit by a storm of dull needles.

Then he went on the offensive, pummeling Kokabiel with armor-covered fists, occasionally adding hits with his tail to the mix. Then, once he was done having fun, he grabbed Kokabiel by the wings and threw him towards the ground. The Cadre landed hard enough to add another crater to the growing number. Only this time, he didn't get back up.

The Vanishing Dragon nodded, seeing that his work was done, before flying over and grabbing the unconscious body of Freed. "Azazel will have some questions for you, too," he told the rogue priest, who subconsciously groaned in response.

From there, the spirits of the two Sacred Gears began talking, which Keijutsu tuned out in favor of looking over at Sona. "Well, I'll admit that this was more anti-climactic than I would have expected," he said.

Sona nodded, but managed to smile somewhat. "But we're all alive, and that's something to be thankful for," she pointed out, before looking around and taking in the wrecked state of the Academy. "Still, taking care of the school is the job of the Student Council. So, we'll have to get all this cleaned up before class tomorrow morning."

Keijutsu chuckled. "I'd love to help with that, but I'd be surprised If I could even stand, much less be of any use right now. I don't think I'll be using that atomization spell again for a long while," he said.

"Oh, I think we'll manage. In the meantime, you just rest. You did well today, Kei-san. Don't forget that," Sona told him.

Deciding not to argue, the Artificer nodded, and closed his eyes.

* * *

 **One week later…**

"Add that rune to here, adjust the energy flow over here, and… done! Ha!" Keijutsu said, pumping his fist as he walked down the street.

About seven days had passed since the incident with Kokabiel, and things were finally getting back to normal. From what he had heard, Kokabiel was now imprisoned in one of the deepest cells the Underworld had to offer, and his actions had in no way resulted in the cease-fire between the Three Factions being dissolved.

The damage to the school had been repaired overnight, just like Sona predicted, Kiba had gone back to being Rias's Knight, and Keijutsu was free to continue his research. All in all, life went on.

And in that time, he had managed to perfect the runic array he would need to create a copy of his sample of Rias's DNA out of pure magic. Now all he needed was one to convert the hair into an oocyte, and one more that would turn a sample of his own DNA into sperm cells to fertilize the oocyte. ' _Everything's running smoothly_ ,' he thought.

So focused was he on writing down his notes that he didn't even notice when he bumped into someone. At least, not until he heard that person say "Oh, Hatsume-san, it's you."

Turning around, he blinked in surprise. Standing before him was Suzuno, but she looked as if she had seen better days. There were bags under her eyes, her normally-pristine kimono was dirty and had a few tears, and she even smelled slightly.

Deciding to let subtlety exit stage left, Keijutsu asked "Kamazuki-san? What the hell happened to you?"

He immediately felt a patch of guilt when Suzuno flinched, looking away for a moment in shame. Then, after taking a deep breath, she said "Let's take this inside. Do you know somewhere that would be nice to eat?"

Nodding hesitantly, Keijutsu lead the way through the streets until they arrived at the Sushi Shop, the same restaurant that he and Sona had once eaten at.

The two of them were able to get their own booth and both placed their orders, ignoring how the waiter wrinkled their nose once they got close enough to smell Suzuno. Keijutsu let her eat before asking any questions, waiting patiently.

Finally, once she was done, he asked "Okay. Rephrasing my initial question, what are you doing here? I would have thought that you and Irina would have returned to Vatican City by now, and taken the pieces of Excalibur with you."

Again, Suzuno took a moment to respond, and then she said "Irina did go back to the Vatican, and took the Excalibur fragments to be restored. However, Xenovia and I… we… we can't go back."

Raising an eyebrow, he asked "And why is that? Did Irina spend all of your money again, and you couldn't afford plane tickets?"

"No, nothing like that. Moreover, we aren't _allowed_ to go back," she replied, looking down at her finished bowl of rice.

That only confused Keijutsu further. "Not allowed? But why would the Vatican not allow you to come back? The only reason they would do so is if you both went rogue, and I know neither of you would be willing to that. Right?"

Now Suzuno began trembling slightly. "No, we wouldn't do that if we had a choice. If we had a choice," she managed to get out.

"But then I don't understand. If neither of you went rogue, then the only other possible reason that you couldn't return to the Vatican…" Keijutsu began, before trailing off as his eyes widened. Suzuno's trembling increased, anticipating the words. And he gave them. "…Was if you were excommunicated."

Barely holding back tears, she silently nodded.

Keijutsu simply sat there for a moment. Now it made since. If she and Xenovia were both excommunicated, that would be a perfectly legitimate reason to stay in Kuoh. What was more, if that were the case, it wasn't hard to imagine that they weren't left with any money either. Alone, out on the streets, the life she had known taken from her in the blink of an eye… It was no wonder she looked like the mess she was now.

But that didn't answer one question he had. "But why would the Church excommunicate you in the first place? You both did your job in getting back Excalibur. Especially given that there should have been no way for you to get them back from someone of Kokabiel's strength at all," he questioned.

Suzuno sighed. "It's because Xenovia and I heard the truth. The truth about the death of God," she answered.

' _Oh… Right. God is dead. I forgot about that_ ,' Keijutsu thought. You would think that would be something he'd remember. After all, the very idea of God being DEAD was almost inconceivable, and an immensely strong psychological blow to any devout Christian. Then again, he had never really been a devout believer to begin with, both before and after having learned to use magic. And with him being as focused on his research as he had been, it had honestly just slipped his mind.

Evidently, however, Suzuno could not claim nearly the same. All her life, she had believed in God and His grace, and pledged her life to the Church. Hell, as an Inquisitor, it had been her job to promote faith in God and punish heretics. Now, however, the Church had branded her as a heretic herself, and all for simply knowing something she wasn't supposed to. No small source of mental agony there.

Asking the obvious question, Keijutsu said "And it's because Irina was already injured—and thus couldn't be there to hear what Kokabiel said—she was allowed to return, correct?"

Suzuno nodded. "Yes. Everyone involved has been sworn to secrecy, as the death of God is still being kept a secret. Even I could see that it would cause too much panic if the truth were to get out. So, rather than be killed, we were declared heretics to ensure that, even if we did decide to let the truth out, no one would believe us," she explained.

"I see…" he responded, and the two of them lapsed into silence.

Neither of one of them broke it for a long while, the two of them absorbed in their own separate thoughts. Keijutsu was going over the situation in his head, while Suzuno was questioning herself. Her entire life had revolved around her place in the Congregation and her duty to it. With that taken away, who was she? _What_ was she?

Eventually, Keijutsu spoke up, asking "So, what will you do now?"

Looking down at her hands, Suzuno said "I honestly don't know. I never even imagined that this might happen to me, and now I have no idea what to do. I have no living relatives or acquaintances, no job, and no money. I've been living at the abandoned church on the edge of town, but I know I can't stay there forever."

Grunting, he replied "Well, what about Xenovia-san? What has she done?"

At that, Suzuno actually scowled. "Xenovia approached Rias the day after the incident with Kokabiel, and promptly begged to become her servant. She agreed, and reincarnated her as her Knight. However, I don't wish to so casually sign my life away simply to have a new purpose. Not like that," she said heatedly.

Nodding his head, Keijutsu pointed out "But you don't have a purpose right now. And no place to truly live or provide for yourself."

That took the heat right out of her, and Suzuno slumped forward. She could still vividly remember when Irina left, and both of them were treated to the news of what Xenovia had done.

* * *

 _Both Irina and Suzuno stood there, shocked at seeing Xenovia in the Kuoh Academy uniform. What was more, they could sense that her energy output, which had only been pure before, now carried a taint of darkness. Both factors put together it meant one thing. Xenovia Quarta had become a Devil._

 _Not noticing their expressions, Xenovia said "You have all four of the cores used to make the Fused Excalibur. As long as the cores remained undamaged, they can be used to make new Holy Swords. Such a thing should be no problem for the Church's alchemists."_

 _Suzuno nodded, but her expression did not change. "Still, that is not the issue here," she stated._

" _How do you mean? You should be proud. The mission has been finished," Xenovia said._

 _Irina grunted, her normally cheerful expression gone. "I know, and I am proud. I just wish you two had finished it with me."_

" _Yeah… I feel the same way," Xenovia replied._

" _Then why?!" Irina countered, nearly shouting in despair. "Why did you choose to become a Devil, Xenovia? And why did you choose to just quit, Suzuno? I can't believe that the Church would just accept that like they did!" she said._

" _Irina-!" Suzuno began, but the brunette cut her off._

" _No! Do you know word is used for people like you?" she asked. Xenovia remained silent, and Suzuno sighed._

 _Turning away, Irina said "You're both traitors," and walked away._

* * *

Hearing Keijutsu sigh, Suzuno broke out of her recollection and looked up.

"Well, if you have nowhere else to go, I suppose that you can stay at my home for the time being," he said.

Suzuno went stiff, and her eyes widened. "W-What?!" she said.

He shrugged. "I see no reason why not. You need a decent place to sleep, and I have room to provide it. You don't strike me as someone who would take advantage of generosity. What's more, it would only last until you've decided what you're going to do with your life, and then you'll be on your way," he told her.

She simply stared at him. Just like that, and he was offering her lodgings? A warm bed, clean water, everything? There had to be some sort of catch.

Remembering what Xenovia did, her eyes narrowed, and she asked, "And I suppose that, in return, you want me to become your own servant, is that right?"

"Not at all," he said, stunning her even further. Seeing her expression, Keijutsu continued "You are correct in believing that I'm not offering this for free. In exchange for staying at my home, I want you to assist me in any experiments that I perform. An extra set of hands can always come in useful, and having someone that can actually thinking for themself is far better than any of my golems."

Still somewhat suspicious, Suzuno said "That's it? Help you with your experiments, and I can stay at your home? For as long as needed? Forgive me, but I find that a little hard to believe."

Sighing, Keijutsu leaned back and looked up at the ceiling. "You know, I'm not a huge fan of television in general. But I once heard an expression on it that could easily be paraphrased here," he said, before looking at her. "Maybe, just maybe, life has no purpose. But if you remain in this world for long enough, you might find something valuable in it. Like you found your faith in God… or how I found you," he said.

Suzuno's breath caught, and she looked at him but said nothing. Apparently having said his piece, Keijutsu rose to his fee and placed enough on the table to cover both of their meals. "As I said, while you becoming my servant is not a requirement for staying at my home, becoming my assistant is. If you can bear that, you'll be free to stay as long as you like. Feel free to think it over, Suzuno-san."

With that, he began. Suzuno stared at where had had been, before replaying his words in her head. Over and over, she thought of them, until she spoke just as he was about to open the door.

"…Crestia Bell."

Keijutsu paused with one hand on the door and looked back at her. "I beg your pardon?" he asked.

She slowly got to her feet, looking at him with renewed determination. "Suzuno Kamazuki is a cover name, one that I use when on missions. My real name is Crestia Bell," she told him.

He stared at her for a moment, coming to grips with what she had just told him. Eventually, however, he smiled. "Then I'm pleased that you've chosen to trust me with it. It's a pleasure to meet you, Crestia," he said.

Crestia nodded, and when Keijutsu turned to leave, she followed.

* * *

Keijutsu knocked on the door to the apartment and waited. He didn't have to wait for more than a minute before it opened, showing Zel on the other side. Or rather, Aza _zel_.

Really, the fact he hadn't caught that before astounded him.

As it was, Azazel lost his trademark smirk the moment he saw Keijutsu, and raised an eyebrow. "What, no one else is here with you? No other members of your peerage, no mechanical creatures? Nothing?" he asked, not even bothering to hide anymore.

Keijutsu shrugged. "If you had wanted to kill me, you would have done so during any of the almost dozen times we've been together before now. And even if you did want to kill me now, I don't have anyone to bring that could stop you," he pointed out.

Azazel bowed his head, conceding the point. He stepped back and enabled the Artificer to walk inside, closing the door behind him. While Keijutsu sat down at his usual place on the couch, Azazel fetched a pair of saucers and a bottle of sake.

After the two of them downed the first drink together, Azazel asked "So why are you here?"

"I was curious," Keijutsu stated simply. "And I had a few questions that I was hoping you could answer."

At the Fallen's grunt of acknowledgement, he asked "Why is it that you came to Kuoh in the first place? And why are you still here?"

Azazel sighed. "Well, the answer to that first question has to do with an incident that occurred before you became a Devil, between a group of Fallen Angels under my command and Rias Gremory."

"The debacle with Raynare. I remember hearing about," he responded.

"Right. After hearing about how a member of the Grigori so blatantly went against my orders, I knew I had to do something drastic. Several members of my faction have become more restless as of late, and they're not happy with the cease-fire as it stands now. If I wanted to calm them down, I needed set an example. So, when I heard about what Raynare had done, I came here to deliver her punishment myself," Azazel explained.

"I see. Though I'm sensing a 'but' in your next sentence," Keijutsu said.

"But," Azazel began, nodding. "by the time I got here, Miss Gremory had already taken care of the issue for me. Which was all well and good, seeing as they weren't supposed to engage Issei Hyoudou to begin with, only observe him. But not only did that still leave the issue of making an example unresolved, I also became interested after I heard how the Hyoudou kid that defeated her, even though Raynare was also stronger from stealing **Twilight Healing**. So, I decided to stick around long enough to satisfy my interest."

Keijutsu looked at him. "And has that interest been satisfied?" he asked.

Azazel grinned. "For the most part, yes. But then I also heard about you. Another new Devil on the scene, one who was good at magic but, more importantly, was also a scientist like myself. I decided to learn more about you as well, which was why I requested to form a contract with you. And since then, I've only become more intrigued," he said.

Now it was Keijutsu's turn to raise an eyebrow, and Azazel elaborated. "Mechanical golems, high levels of skill in runic magic, artificially creating life and, most important to me, creating Sacred Gears," he said. "You've already got an impressive number of accomplishments and future accomplishments under your belt. And trust me, the longer you do work like this, the more likely that people besides myself are going to start paying attention."

Keijutsu didn't respond, thinking. The idea that others might be interested in his work wasn't all that surprising. However, he didn't think that people would start looking so soon. People becoming interested in his research inevitably led to offers, such as more funding in exchange for investigating a specific issue. Or people trying to recruit him for some sort of goal or ambition that he wasn't interested in. Then he had people who he made upset by saying 'no', they came back with threats or new offers… it was all a hassle.

That train of thought led back around, and he asked "So is that what you want? For me to help you research Sacred Gears in the hopes of making one?"

"On the contrary, I've already made at least one artificial Sacred Gear," Azazel replied, making Keijutsu sit up straight.

"You've… You've made one?!"

Azazel grinned and held out his hand. There was a flash of flight, and then a golden dagger appeared in it. The dagger itself was shaped like a very small lance, and there was a spherical purple jewel at the end of the handle. More importantly, however, was the energy that Keijutsu sensed from it.

Handing it over for him to examine, Azazel said "I call this one **Down Fall Dragon Spear**. It's a pretty strong Sacred Gear, all things considered. But then again, it _does_ have the soul of Fafnir, one of the Five Dragon Kings, sealed inside of it."

Keijutsu turned the dagger over in his hands, marveling at it. He couldn't sense a speck of magical energy coming from it. Rather, if he focused enough, he could sense a flicker of the dragon's soul, and traces of holy energy. The latter part surprised him, but then he reckoned that it must have at least a small amount if it was going to function as part of God's Sacred Gear System.

' _Still, that makes things more complicated. If being able to manipulate holy energy is necessary to create a Sacred Gear, then I'll need to find a way to create it and safely control it without actually coming into contact with it. That last part will be especially important, since being a Devil would make being affecting by holy energy potentially fatal_ ,' he thought.

Looking back up at Azazel, he couldn't help but ask "But if you already can make artificial Sacred Gears, why tell me? What would you need me for?"

He sighed. "Well, as strong as I can make the Sacred Gears I create, even the strongest of them are still inferior to real Sacred Gears. I only use **Down Fall Dragon Spear** if I'm ever in the need for a power boost, but not beyond that. I was hoping that you would help me close that gap. And in exchange, I would give you copies of my research notes up to this point," he explained.

Keijutsu looked at him, then back down at the dagger. What Azazel had been able to accomplish was years ahead of where he was at in his own research. If the Fallen Angel really was sincere about sharing notes, then that would cut down the time he needed to do further investigation. And in return, he'd be required to make sure that the Sacred Gears he made were as strong as the real ones. Something he had intended to do anyway.

Still, this would mean literally working alongside the leader of an enemy faction. And with what had just happened with Kokabiel, he very seriously doubted such a thing would go over well.

"I'll… need some time to consider your offer," he said, getting to his feet.

Azazel shrugged. "Fine by me. I'm not going anywhere for a while, so I'm in no rush to get an answer," he said.

Keijutsu nodded and began walking for the door, placing the Sacred Gear on the table. Once he had it open and was about to walk through, Azazel added "One, and more thing."

Looking back at him, the Fallen Angel stated "As far as research is concerned, I believe in a free and open exchange of scientific ideas, regardless of whether we're on different sides or not. Hopefully, you can understand that."

Keijutsu stared at him for a moment, before nodding and leaving.

* * *

 **Not as long as a chapter as I thought, but this one was mainly to wrap up the Kokabiel arc. Still, we've got Suzuno living at Keijutsu's place now, and Azazel offering to help with his research. What will be the fallout from these two events? Reading on will tell!**

 **Also, I have a special announcement to make. As we all know, I have so far been firm in my decision to keep this story at a single pairing between Keijutsu and Sona. However, both time and the insistence of my reviewers (or at least, some of them) have made me more open to the idea of multiple pairings. However, let it be known that, even if I do multiple pairings, it will be with no more than three girls** _ **at maximum**_ **. I am not debating this point. To that end, I have set up a poll on my account, which shall be open until a week after I post Chapter 17.**

 **If you have any particular leaning towards singular or multiple pairings, as well as which pairings, go to the poll and vote now! (You can vote for up to two options.)**

 **Please review! If you flame me then Bruce Lee will smash you with his nunchaku. (I'm just kidding… or am I?)**


	16. Chapter 16: Open House

Author's Note: I do not own High School DxD or anything affiliated with it. The rights to it belong solely to their respective owners.

* * *

 **The next chapter has come! I honestly have no idea how my update schedule will work now. I thought having no classes would give me a bunch of extra time to write, but it ended up being a bunch of time spent watching a web series called 'Critical Role'. Not that there's anything bad with that, but maybe being in classes will give me the kick in the pants necessary to update more often. Maybe. In either case, on to the replies!**

 **Ahsoei: *Confused by your remark, the author goes back and re-watches the episode in question, only to realized that Issei did have a short bit of thunder there that got left out* Uh… whoops?**

 **Striderm8: Yes, it was largely the fanbase that led to this change. Though even if there's multiple pairings, more focus will be on the plot and letting the romance gradually occur alongside it. For proof, just look how far we are with the main romance, that being Keijutsu and Sona. And if you can find the grammar mistake I made, I'd be happy to correct it.**

 **The God of War Kratos: Glad to hear that you like the story. And rest assured, even in the vent of multiple pairings, the main focus will still be the plot. For more, I direct you to the above response.**

 **A guy1013: I had originally added Suzuno with that intent of her (eventually) joining Keijutsu's future peerage as a** **Rook** **. While I've modified what the peerage will be since then, I saw no reason to just write her out of the plot, so I just left her in. Who knows? Maybe I'll feature more stuff focusing on her in the future.**

 **AnimeA55Kicker: I think I did see that once on this site. Can't remember the name on the fic, but it was adorable.**

 **Beowolfalien: The moment I read that comment, I spent the next five minutes laughing my ass off. You, kind reader, have made my day.**

 **Guest: Yes, it was rather overboard on Sona's part.**

 **Temsen: Indeed they are.**

 **Tohka123: Yep, that was the end of the Kokabiel arc. Now we have one or two intermediate chapters, then the Faction Meeting.**

 **Mile De: You're welcome.**

 **Blazeb79: Honestly, I find the idea of using magic to create life utterly fascinating, if the fact I'm writing about it wasn't an indication. But if by 'awesomeness' you are refer to events with more explosive results, that'll be coming soon enough.**

 **And now, we begin!**

* * *

Chapter 16: Open House

"So, the Governor General of the Fallen Angels actually wanted to form a partnership with you. This doesn't bode well…" Sona said.

Keijutsu nodded. "I agree. Azazel seemed sincere about his desire for us to work together on Sacred Gears. However, it could have all just been an act. And even if it wasn't, he's still part of a different faction than us. Working together would only cause trouble."

Sona sighed and sat back in her chair. "Yes, there is that as well. However, I suspect that may not be an issue for long," she said. When Keijutsu looked at her in confusion, she elaborated "I just received word from Rias earlier today, who in turn was notified by Sirzechs. Soon, the leaders of all three Factions—Angels, Fallen Angels and Devils—will be holding a summit here, in Kuoh."

Keijutsu went stiff in shock, staring at her. "Are you serious?" he asked. And when she nodded, his mind began racing.

It was easy to see that this summit was in response to Kokabiel's attempt to restart the Great War. However, what wasn't obvious was what the leaders might do once they sat down together. Would they continue what Kokabiel started and declare the War to have resumed? The Devils, Keijutsu supposed, would have enough reason to declare war on the Fallen.

After all, this was the second issue that occurred regarding them in the past year, and in the same town. Whether it be because of Azazel not keeping a tighter leash on his forces, those same forces betraying him, or something else, Fallen Angels had launched unsanctioned attacks in Kuoh twice now. With the latter having been personally done by a Cadre-class member of the Grigori.

And if the Four Satans did declare War on the Fallen Angels, there was no telling how the Angels would react. Would they try to prevent that by negotiating for peace? Join one side to finish the other? Or elect to wash their hands of it and stay out of the War entirely?

Though, that was all assuming that the summit was to officially declare war. It could also be an attempt to prevent exactly that, whether by punishing the Grigori for Kokabiel's actions or possibly even forming a peace treaty. It was hard to say.

But if Azazel was offering to have them work together, it was possible that Azazel was leaning more towards peace. Perhaps even by offering to have knowledge and resources be shared amongst the factions. He had mentioned believing in a 'free and open exchange of ideas'.

Returning to the present, he said "Unless given a very good reason otherwise, I think I'm going to reject Azazel's offer. As much as I would love to resume working on Sacred Gears now, I don't think the risk is worth it. And I still have to finish my current project as it is."

"I agree. We can consider the matter more after the summit. Until then, it'd be best to not even approach Azazel. Also, the fact that the Vanishing Dragon is apparently working for him is cause for concern," Sona said, something he agreed with.

Just from his brief appearance alone, Keijutsu could already tell that the Vanishing Dragon was a powerful opponent. Not only was his raw power equal to that of Kokabiel, but then you threw in his **Divine Dividing** and its ability to halve the power of an opponent. Just like with Issei, this made any fight hopeless if it lasted long enough. But unlike Issei, this enemy had enough power that you couldn't just destroy him before he had a chance to react.

Keijutsu said "I think Azazel actually had him appear in order to send a message to the rest of the Grigori. From what he told, more and more of his troops haven't been happy with the cease-fire between factions, and he needed to demonstrate that insubordination like Kokabiel's wouldn't be tolerated."

Sona stifled a snort. "Well, showing that you have a holder of one of the thirteen Longinus in your pocket would certainly take care of that," she remarked, before shaking her head. "If there's nothing else, we'll end our discussion here. I have to get ready for Open House tomorrow."

"Ah, right. That is tomorrow," the Artificer muttered. Because of Open House, most of the regular classes would be canceled, which left him with more time do research. A win-win, in his book.

* * *

The first indication Keijutsu received that something was wrong was when he was inside the lab set aside by the school for metallurgy.

He had decided to take a short break from his research on artificial life by working on one of his side projects. On the table in front of him appeared to be, for all intents and purposes, a massive square of cloth. However, one looked close enough, they could see strands of metal interwoven into the fabric, as well as several runic arrays inked on.

What the purpose of these runes were, it was hard to say. Keijutsu was reviewing his notes on both them and the object itself, when his senses suddenly picked up two energy signatures coming towards him.

One of them, he could easily tell, was Sona. However, the other energy signature alarmed him greatly. Not only did it seem to be chasing after Sona, but it's power level was beyond almost anything he had ever encountered. It was beyond that of Kokabiel, beyond the Vanishing Dragon, and seemed to even match Azazel in turns of raw strength.

' _What in the Underworld is something like that doing here on campus?! And why is it chasing Sona?!_ ' he thought, putting down his notes.

No sooner had he done so than the door to the lab burst open, and Sona ran inside. Her hair was disheveled, glasses crooked, and she was breathing heavily from running.

However, he didn't have a chance to ask what was going on, as Sona looked straight at him and said "Keijutsu, hide me!"

The Artificer blinked. Even for him, this was too much to take in instantly. Thus, his only response was "What?"

"Don't ask, just hide me somehow!" she said, nearly panicking as the large energy signature grew closer.

Keijutsu wondered what was going on, but upon seeing his King's desperate expression, he decided to get answers later. For now, he simply nodded and gestured for her to stand in the corner of the room, away from the door. Once she was in place, he grabbed the cloth that was on the lab table and came close.

"Try not to make any noise, suppress your energy signature as much as you can and avoid moving," he said, before literally tossing the cloth over her, so that she was completely covered.

Sona stared at him for a moment in shock, her vision partially obscured. This was it? This was his idea of hiding her? Having her stand in the corner while covered and _hope_ that she wasn't seen?! Was he insane!?

But before she could lay into him for such an idiotic idea, however, the lab door slid open again, and her anger turned to dread at seeing who was there. Now, she had no choice but to resign herself to her fate.

Keijutsu looked over the newcomer and stared at the sight of her. It was a girl, a rather beautiful one at that, who appeared to be in her late teens. She had long black hair tied into twin tails and violet eyes, as well as a small body (except for a pair of large breasts). She was wearing what appeared to be some kind of magical girl outfit, complete with a magic wand, and possessed an expression far too innocent to be real.

The new girl looked around for a moment in confusion, asking "So-tan, where are you? I could have sworn that I sensed you coming this way!"

Sona resisted the urge to whine in misery. Well, there was no escape now.

But to her shock, when the girl's eyes landed on the spot where Sona was standing, her gaze lingered for a moment… and then passed right over her, as if she weren't there. What the hell?

Keijutsu cleared his throat and stepped forward, saying "Forgive my interrupting, but who is this 'So-tan' that you're looking for?"

The magical girl blinked and looked at him. "Oh, I was talking about Sona Sitri, my cute and adorable little sister! Have you seen her?" she asked cheerfully.

Now it was Keijutsu's turn to blink. Sona was this girl's younger sister? But wait. Didn't Sona say that she had a sibling who was the current Leviathan, one of the four Satans? In that case, then this girl… she was… Oh shit.

' _Well, that explains her massive amount of power_ ,' he idly thought.

Standing straighter, he said "I apologize, ma'am, but I haven't seen Sona-kaichou at all today. Perhaps she left to go elsewhere?"

Sona's sister pouted, muttering "Aw, bummer. And I was so looking forward to spending time with her…" Then she looked up at him. "But who are you? I can tell you're a Devil, but I've never seen you before."

Being sure to bow formally, he said "My name is Keijutsu Hatsume, and I am a Bishop in service to Sona. What is your name?"

At that, she smiled, and struck a pose by spinning around in a circle—making Keijutsu realize that her skirt was far too short in the process—before pointing her wand at him and flashing a 'peace' sign. "My name is Serafall Leviathan, a member of the four Satans! But you, Kei-chan, can call me the Magical Levi-tan!" she declared.

Now even further flummoxed by both her nickname and the one she just gave him, he said "Okay… It's a pleasure to meet you, Leviathan-sama. Are you here for the school's open house?"

Swiftly resuming her pouting expression, Serafall said "Yeah, but So-tan was being mean and didn't tell me that it was happening! I had to find out about it from Sirzechs-chan, and he only knew because _his_ little sister told him!"

Keijutsu looked at her but said nothing, while she kept going. "And when I did show up, my precious So-tan wasn't even happy to see me! It didn't happen at all like I envisioned it! She was supposed to give a big smile and jump into my arms, telling me how much she missed me! Then I'd tell her that I missed her too and give her a big kiss, and she'd give me a big kiss back, and that would lead to some girl-on-girl action, and it would be so hot!"

' _Wait… what? Did she just suggest that she wanted to… have a round of lesbian incest with Sona?_ ' he thought, seriously wondering whether he had heard that right or not.

"And when I found out about open house from someone other than Sona, I nearly laid siege to Heaven itself to get rid of my anger!" Serafall finished, pointing her wand at the ceiling.

Coming back at reality, he said "Forgive me if I'm wrong, but isn't starting a war with another faction exactly what we're trying to prevent?"

Serafall nodded. "Yeah, it is. And I'm feeling better now, having gotten the chance to see Sona. Are you sure you have no idea where she is?" she asked.

Making sure not to glance over to where Sona was standing, he said "I'm sorry, but I really have no idea. Maybe you could see if she went back to the Student Council room?"

"Hmm… That's a good idea. It's definitely a place to start." With that, the Satan nodded, and Keijutsu sighed in relief.

Too soon. No sooner had he done so than Serafall was suddenly right in front of him, having moved faster than he could see, and was leaning even closer. Keijutsu's eyes widened and he leaned back in response. However, there was only so far back he could lean without falling.

"That said… I have to admit, So-tan does sure no how to pick them," she said, her normally childish voice turning both serious… and seductive.

"Um, I'm afraid that I don't know what you mean," Keijutsu said.

To that, Serafall chuckled and moved even closer, to the point that her sizable chest began pressing against him. "Oh, I just mean that my precious sister seems to have a gift for picking out cute guys to be Devils. But that Saji-chan is way too strict, and I'm not interested in that." Then she rose up on her tip-toes, so that her face was even closer to his.

Almost against his will, Keijutsu glanced down at her lips. Smooth, well-proportioned, not artificial like a lot of girls'… Then he snapped back once he realized that there was less than half a foot of space between Serafall's face and his.

"But what I _am_ interested in…" she added. "Is to see if you're good enough for my little sister."

Fighting with everything he had to keep himself from blushing, he said "L-Leviathan-sama… I think you should get back to looking for Sona."

But Serafall merely chuckled again. "I told you, call me Levi-tan. I have enough people calling me 'Leviathan-sama' day in and day out…"

She leaned in closer. "Can't my sister's handsome Bishop make an exception?" she asked.

' _Any closer and she's going to make the blood flow to my head increase to the point it pops off. And I mean the head above my shoulders,_ ' he thought. Out loud, he said "I… I guess it wouldn't hurt… Levi-tan."

And just like that, Serafall smiled brightly and stepped back, saying "Oh, that's wonderful! I was hoping that I could finally get someone to call me that! It makes me so happy!"

Keijutsu nearly stumbled back, her sudden switch back to her usual personality generating a massive amount of whiplash. While he tried to come up with something to say, Serafall said "Well, it was fun talking to you, Kei-chan, but I think I'll take your suggestion and start searching at the Student Council room. See you!"

Then she conjured a blue magic circle and vanished, leaving just as abruptly as she arrived.

Keijutsu stood there for several minutes afterwards, simply trying to process everything that had happened so far. In that time, Sona reached up and removed the cloth that had been over her. "Thank goodness; I was starting to think she'd never leave," she muttered before approaching him.

"Thank you for your help, Kei-san. You have no idea how much this means to me," she said.

At that, Keijutsu finally managed to break out of his shock, and shrugged. "Don't mention it, Kaichou. I can see that your sister is very… energetic… and I can only imagine how much that clashes with how serious you are about things," he told her.

Sona nodded, before placing the cloth back on the lab table. Curious, she asked "If you don't mind me asking, what is this thing supposed to be? And how did it keep my sister from noticing me?"

He smiled. "Oh, just a side project that I've been working on from time to time. Basically, I've been trying to create a working cloak of invisibility," he stated.

Sona paused, blinked, and then looked at him. "A cloak of invisibility? Really?"

"Really," he responded. "Basically, with what I have so far, the cloak itself can bend electromagnetic waves in the visible part of the spectrum away from the user, ensuring that no visible light comes into contact with them and preventing the user from being seen. However, that's not all I want this to do."

Smoothing out any creases in the material, he said "I want this thing to be able to render the user completely invisible to _all_ forms of detection. Whether that be by infrared, X-rays, anything, I want this to block them all. Plus, I also want it to be able to make the user completely undetectable by any other methods, such as sounds, scent, even by tracing the magical energy they could emit."

The Sitri heiress stared at the cloth, then at him. "And you're calling something like that a _side_ project?" she asked incredulously.

"Yep. My work on the limits of magic takes precedence, but I tinker with this whenever I want to cool off. Plus, as you just saw when I had you use it, I've already had a limited amount of success."

Then Keijutsu sighed. "Unfortunately, while I have been able to render the user visually undetectable and muffle the magical energy they could emit, that's it. I haven't made progress on the audio blockage, scent remover, or anything else. Plus, the device itself starts fail if the user moves too much or tries casting any magic."

"I see…" Sona said, before eventually nodding. "Well, I'll let you get back to it, Kei-san. Now that Onee-sama is no longer chasing me, I can see about actually getting some work done. I'll see you soon."

Keijutsu nodded back, and she left the room.

* * *

 **The next day…**

' _It seems that whenever I encounter the Occult Research Club, something strange is always going on_ ,' Keijutsu thought.

He had just been walking home from class and was passing by the Old Schoolhouse. However, as he had gotten closer, he could sense the energy output from all of Rias's peerage with the exception of Akeno, Kiba and Rias herself. What was more, Xenovia seemed to have summoned Durandal, and he could sense that Saji was there too.

Deciding to see what was going on, he approached the clearing where they were all located, and was treated a very strange sight.

Xenovia was running around with Durandal held high, chasing after what appeared to be a young girl. Said girl had platinum blonde hair styled in a short bob, with pointed ears and pinkish-purple eyes. She was also rather short, just about one-and-a-half meters, and dressed in Kuoh Academy's female uniform. If he looked close enough, he might have also spotted a tiny pair of fangs.

"Is this what you call running? If you don't pick up the pace, Durandal will have your head!" Xenovia called.

"NOOOO!" the little girl screamed, running even faster. After another few minutes, she finally collapsed against a tree, and looked at the bluenette with tears in her eyes. "Why are you being so mean to me?!" she demanded.

Xenovia smirked. "Trust me, you won't think I'm so mean when you've become stronger," she declared.

Before the girl had a chance to protest, Koneko stepped forward. "Gasper, eat this and you'll feel better," she stated, before holding up a handful of garlic.

Gasper screamed and got back up, running away rom the garlic-carrying Rook. However, Koneko was easily able to keep pace, even as she kept running back and forth.

Finally deciding to see what this was all about, Keijutsu stepped closer. "Would someone mind telling me what the heck is going on?" he asked.

Issei looked over and waved. "Oh! Hey, Hatsume-san. What's up?" he asked.

"I was just heading home when I heard all this ruckus and decided to take a look. So why are Xenovia-san and Koneko-san chasing around that blonde girl? And who is she anyway?" Keijutsu questioned.

Issei shrugged. "The blonde is Gasper Vladi, and we're just trying to help him get better control over his Sacred Gear. And, and by the way, he's not a girl. He's a guy."

Keijutsu paused. "Wait…" he said, before looking at the short blonde. "You mean that girl is a boy?!" he said, his tone making it clear just how little he believed that.

The Pawn nodded seriously. "Yeah. Trust me, I was as surprised as you were when I found out. But Gasper's really a guy, one who just so happens to look a lot like a girl and who enjoys cross-dressing."

Keijutsu went over that in his head, trying to come to grips with the fact that this obviously feminine being before him was actually male. For some reason, that was proving really hard to process. Still, he was eventually able to come to grips with it, and sighed. "Okay, that explains why you're chasing him. But what kind of Sacred Gear requires training is this intense?" he asked, seeing how Gasper kept running from Koneko and the garlic despite being clearly exhausted.

Asia was the one who answered, explaining "His Sacred Gear is called **Forbidden Balor View** , or 'The Evil Eyes that Stop the World'. Gasper can use it to freeze time for anything he can see. But he doesn't have a lot of control over it, so it usually only happens to a lot of people, and for just an instant."

But Keijutsu had stopped listening after the 'freeze time' part, as his own eyes went wide as he considered the possibilities of such an ability. Quickly, he called "Hold on a second!" and everyone stopped what they were doing.

Moving right in front of Gasper and dropping to one knee, he said "My name is Keijutsu Hatsume. Gasper-san, do you really have the ability to stop time in a localized area?"

Hesitantly, the blonde nodded, saying "Um, yes, that's what my Sacred Gear lets me do."

Grinning with stars in his eyes, Keijutsu said "That is simply marvelous! Can you demonstrate it for me? Please?"

Now thoroughly unsettled by the Bishop's sudden interest, Gasper tried to protest. "Bu-But I don't have a lot of control over-"

But Keijutsu overrode that. "It doesn't have to be something grand. Just a small demonstration will do!" he said eagerly.

By now, the others were also perplexed by his sudden shift in behavior, to the point that Issei asked "Dude, what's going on? How come you're getting so worked up over this?"

The Artificer looked back at him. "All my life, I had written of the ability to control time as sheer fantasy, unobtainable even with the use of magic. But do you have any idea of the potential applications for such a thing? Besides being able to freeze an enemy in combat and simply hitting them while they can't react, they are so many other things that can be done!"

He rose back to his feet, continuing "Keeping someone's who's injured stabilized until they could receive proper treatment. Traveling insurmountable distances in a fraction of time. Even direct manipulation of spacetime, since time and space are simply two connected aspects of the same concept. The possibilities could be endless!"

Then Keijutsu turned and faced Gasper once more. "That's why I'm asking this of you. Please, show me an example of your stopping time for something. I have to see it to believe it!" he said fiercely.

Unfortunately, Gasper's natural fear of other people, combined with how emphatically Keijutsu was addressing him, overrode his hesitation, and he yelled "Eeep!" before the world suddenly vanished in a flash of pink.

The pink light faded, and Keijutsu blinked upon seeing that Gasper was gone. "What the-? Where did he go?!" he nearly yelled.

"Waaah! I'm sorry!" he heard Gasper call, and looked up. The half-vampire was now sitting up in a tree, and looked to be one step away from bawling his eyes out.

"I didn't mean to do it! Please don't get angry with me!" he said.

But rather than get angry, Keijutsu simply stood there, eyes huge. Not only had this child just frozen time for every person within the clearing, but he had done so for long enough that had he time to actually climb a tree and try to hide. From Gasper's perspective, it must have been like they were all frozen in place. But from their own point of view, it was as if he had moved instantaneously, with not even a nanosecond passing at all.

"This… is… AMAZING!" he yelled, beaming up at the Bishop.

Gasper stopped sniffling for a moment. "Wait. You mean… you're not mad that I froze you?" he asked.

"Mad? Heavens, no! I'm more impressed than anything else. Actual time manipulation! Will your **Forbidden Balor View** work on any being, regardless of who or what they are? What exact method do you use for activating it? How long could you keep them frozen if you tried? Would you be willing to participate in a series of tests for me?" he asked, firing one question after another.

Gasper didn't say anything, staring at Keijutsu as if _he_ were the one with a world-changing ability.

It was at that moment that a new voice spoke up, saying "Now what do we have here? It's cute that the Devil houses are spending time together for once."

As one, everyone looked in the direction of the voice, and saw that it belonged to none other than Azazel.

Instantly, Issei summoned his **Boosted Gear** while Xenovia raised Durandal, and everyone except Gasper and Asia moved into fighting stances. The Fallen Angel didn't even blink at the display, saying "Nice to see you again, Hatsume-san, Red Dragon Emperor."

Saji, momentarily shocked by Azazel's sudden appearance, called forth his **Absorption Line** and moved to Azazel's flank, while Koneko moved behind him.

Still not losing his smirk, Azazel said "You could attack me all at once, but it still wouldn't make a difference. Even Low-Class Devils like you should know that."

Keijutsu glared at him for a moment, before sighing. "He's got a point, everyone," he said, and relaxed. After a long moment, the others did as well, and he asked, "So what brings you here, Azazel-san?"

"I came because I wanted to see the one carrying the Holy-Demonic Sword. Is he here?" he asked.

Issei replied "No, he's not. And if you know what's good for you, you'll stay away from Kiba."

Azazel sighed. "Such a feisty one. Still, no Holy-Demonic Sword. How boring," he said, before looking over at where Gasper was hiding. "Hey, cute-looking vampire!"

When Gasper slowly moved down into view, he said "As you no doubt have experienced, something like **Forbidden Balor View** can be downright dangerous if its user can't control it. Why don't you have that kid with the **Absorption Line** siphon off some of your Sacred Gear's power, take the strain down a notch?"

While Saji blinked, not having thought of using his Sacred Gear for that, Azazel continued "Although, since this kid is also half-vampire, there is an even faster way to do it. He could just drink that Red Dragon Emperor's blood, and that'll take care of it like that."

Gasper tensed at the mere thought of drinking someone's blood. Keijutsu, on the other hand, hummed in thought. Not even he would have thought of that. Taking in the blood from a Longinus-level Sacred Gear to help control his own… "Interesting," he said aloud.

At that, Azazel focused on him, saying "Also, I came to see if you had reached a decision regarding my offer. Well, Hatsume-san?"

The rest of them looked at him, and Keijutsu tensed. While he had been planning on rejecting Azazel's offer of a partnership, that was before he had learned that Sacred Gears could do something like _freaking freeze time_. And if even that were possible, what else could they do? It was his question about magic and its own limits all over again.

"I… I need to give it more thought," he eventually said.

Luckily, Azazel appeared to be fine with it. "Very well. Just know that I'm not sure whether I'm staying in town or not after the summit, so you'll want to make your decision by then," he told him.

He merely nodded, and the Fallen Angel began walking off. "I guess that takes care of everything I needed for now, more or less," Keijutsu said, before looking back at Gasper. "I still want to hear your answer regarding those tests. See you around." And then he vanished.

* * *

 **That evening…**

"All the magic circles are drawn and ready, Hatsume-san," Suzuno said, moving away from the center of the room. They were currently in a section of his lab that was normally filled with workbenches, workbenches where he had his golems testing various devices or building something too delicate for human hands. But now both the golems and benches had been removed, and in their place stood a total of three large magic circles.

Each circle contained a near-dizzying number of runes and sigils, interweaving and containing words or phrases from over a dozen languages. A pair of adjacent circles occupied the center of each array, and together they spanned the entirety of the room.

Nodding to his newly-acquired assistant, he said "Thank you, Suzuno-san. Fronea, would you bring me the samples?"

His Sphinx of a familiar grunted and took a pair of test tubes from Rasiel, who was also standing off to the side and watching. Gently carrying the test tubes between her teeth, she padded over and deposited them both into Keijutsu's outstretched hand.

Holding them up to the light, he could see that one contained the stand of Rias's hair that had gotten possession of. The other one, meanwhile, contained a sample of his own skin. Seeing the both of them together, along with the circles on the ground, he had to struggle to keep himself from shaking.

' _This is it. All my planning, all my research, my success and failures in trying to develop artificial life, all done to answer one question. Will this work?_ ' he thought. If it failed, then he had learned that there was one thing which magic could not do. But if it did… he would be responsible for bringing new life into this world, for creating a living, breathing human being. To him, the importance of this moment could _not_ be understated.

But the moment would not go on if he just stood there. And so, taking a deep breath, he released the seals on the test tubes and uncapped them. He placed the strand of hair and patch of skin in the first magic circle, before also stepping back and clasping his hands. "Well, here goes everything," he muttered, before focusing his energy.

The circle containing the samples lit up, regular ink shining a bright blue, casting everything around it in either bright light or harsh shadow. Keijutsu began actively channeling magic energy into the array, while also muttering to himself " _Duplus… Dipl_ _ó_ _…Doble… Daburu… Double…_ "

The light coming from the first circle pulsed with each word, and the DNA samples became infused with the same glow. Then the light began traveling along a series of lines inked into the ground. It coalesced in the center of the second circle in the array, building intensity by the moment.

Keijutsu grunted and the mass of light burst apart, revealing another strand of hair and patch of kin in the second array. Perfect copies of the original, down to the last atom.

Rasiel looked at the new samples with surprise. "So, your replication array really does work," he said, sounding rather impressed.

The artificer nodded but didn't say anything. It was still time for Step 2. Using a small levitation spell to keep himself from having to touch the sample, he lifted them into the air and had them drift over until they were over the first circle in the second array. Then he let them fall to the ground and walked over to stand in front of said array.

Now that he had recreated a DNA sample using nothing but magic, Step 2 was to take the hair and skin created from magic and convert them into egg and sperm cells, respectively. This part would require much more out of him than the first and had a much greater chance of going wrong. But if he remained calm and did not falter, everything should turn out fine.

With that in mind, he brought his hands together and refocused. Much like the first time, the runic array began glowing bright blue, and a similar but much fainter glow enveloped the samples. This time he could actively sense as the sample seemed to _resist_ the change. Not particularly surprising, as he imagined that magic was never intended to manipulate organic life in such a way. Hell, normal science was only just starting to break ground on this.

However, Keijutsu persisted, and increased the flow of magical energy. He also began muttering in the same languages as before, saying " _Converte… Metatropi… Convertir… Henkan… Convert!_ " With each proclamation, the glow around the samples throbbed like a heartbeat, and took a little more from his reserves. It happened very slowly, but eventually the strand of hair began to wrap around itself until it formed a tiny ball, and the patch of skin did the same.

Then both samples seemingly dissolved into light, light which then vanished only to reappear in the circle adjacent to it. At that instant, Keijutsu gasped as he felt the runic array take a massive chunk out of his reserves, almost half of what he had left. But then the light coalesced, and lying in the second circle were a sperm and egg cell.

Acting quickly, Keijutsu said "And now, Step 3!" and quickly encased the two sex cells in a sphere of energy, completely isolating them from their surrounding environment. It wouldn't do for the subject to be contaminated now. Not when he had come so far.

While he carefully transported the sample to the final array, Suzuno stared. "I can't believe what I just saw. You actually made real sex cells from DNA samples. I… I don't know what to say," she said faintly.

Fronea nodded in agreement, but kept her eyes trained on process at hand. "Yes, but now there remains one part left. To use the final array and ensure that the two cells join," she said.

Keijutsu nodded, and placed the energy sphere suspending the two cells within the final array. Unlike the other two, this one only had one circle in the center, since he wouldn't need to be creating anything this time around. He was just guiding the two cells towards each other. With that in mind, he dropped to one knee in front of the array and reached forward, both of his hands becoming enveloped in similar, smaller runes.

Using a separate spell to 'zoom in' his eyesight enough to see the cells themselves, and acting with utmost precision, Keijutsu grasped the two of them with his magic. Holding the egg cell in place, he gently guided the sperm cell to it. Once it was close enough, he let it come into contact with the _corona radiata_ on the egg's outermost surface. After a moment, they dispersed, enabling the sperm cell to enter the perivitelline space… and into the nucleus of the oocyte.

Keijutsu exhaled and stood. He was unable to stop his hands from trembling now, but even so, he guided the sphere to where he could grasp with his hands, and turned around. Before him, Suzuno and, to lesser extent, Fronea, waited with baited breath while Rasiel had an eyebrow raised.

Slowly, he held up the sphere contained the joined sperm and eggs, and proclaimed "We have fertilization."

Suzuno's eyes went huge, and she stared at him. ' _She hasn't looked that shocked_ ,' he idly thought ' _Since she learned that God was dead._ '

Fronea also seemed shocked, but also immensely proud. And why shouldn't she be? She had just witnessed the Devil was familiar to accomplish a feat never before done in all of human and Devil history. The use of magic to create life.

Rasiel smiled widely and stepped forward. "Congratulations, Kei. I admit that even I'm impressed by what you've done today. What will you do now?" she asked.

Keijutsu looked at her… and then grinned. "Now? Now I do the very thing I went through dozens of tests to prepare for." He held up the sphere. "I'm going to use my aging device on this egg, and ensure that it develops into a working, intelligent human being," he said.

Then he began walking and entered into what had been his office. However, the note-boards, desk and chairs were gone, replaced a single white bed not unlike the kind you'd find in a hospital. Placing the enclosed sphere of energy on the bed, he pulled out a stopwatch and pressed down on it. Instantly, the sphere isolating the fertilized egg from its environment vanished. Only to be replaced, in the next instant, by another sphere of blue energy coming from the stopwatch.

Summoning a chair for him to sit in via magic circle, he said "I'm going to age my newly created human to a biological age of approximately sixteen. With the latest improvements I've made to my entropy-manipulator and including the time of each cycle of starting and stopping the device, it should take no more than about twenty hours. Rasiel, the books."

The green-haired girl nodded and produced the Books of Wisdom and Equivalence. She held the out and he reached for them, but he stopped when her expression suddenly turned serious. "Remember my warning, Kei. Using these two Phantom Books will ensure that this person you've created will have the knowledge needed to function. But you must be adamantly sure that you consider this trade to be equal, or it _will_ take from whoever stands to gain more."

Keijutsu nodded. "I understand," he said, and she let him take the books. He activated the aging device and opened both books, before looking back at them. "And now, would you mind shutting the door on your way out? I'm going to be here a while."

Suzuno nodded and shut the door, leaving Keijutsu alone with the new life he had created. If he had the time to, he would have been spinning around the room and off the walls in joy. But for now, he couldn't do that. More work needed to be done.

Holding one book in each hand, he looked between them and the egg on the bed before him, before grinning. "Now, let's get started."

* * *

 **That ends this chapter, with a resounding success for Keijutsu! But now that he has managed to create a person with magic, what will he do now? What will the consequences be for his actions? We'll find out next chapter!**

 **Also, for those of you who have not voted on the poll yet, let me state here that the scene with Serafall was written and decided on** _ **before**_ **I opened the poll. This really was just Serafall having some fun at Keijutsu's expense,** _ **not**_ **an indication that she will be part of the pairing. That will still be decided by you, the readers.**

 **And on that note, please review! If you flame me then Bruce Lee will smash you with his nunchaku. (I'm just kidding… or am I?)**


	17. Chapter 17: Lilium

Author's Note: I do not own High School DxD or anything affiliated with it. The rights to it belong solely to their respective owners.

* * *

 **I had a three-day weekend in which I had no class or work, so that's why this chapter is out earlier than I anticipated. Not that I or any of you are complaining, I suspect. In any case, first we have the replies, and then the chapter!**

 **LordGhostStriker: Yes, Keijutsu is now a father. Is Sona pissed, though? Read to find out.**

 **A guy1013: Ask and ye shall receive.**

 **Mile De: You're welcome.**

 **NightBringer25: Normally, yes, the child of a Devil and human would be a Devil. As to why this is not the case, that will be addressed next chapter.**

 **Placeholder: The final step of the rpcoess was a natural fertilization, yes. But before that, he first created copies of the hair and skin samples from the original, with the copies having been made of pure magic. Then he took the pure magic copies and transmuted them into sex cells. So while the process did involve a natural process at the final step, the sex cells involved were created out of pure magic. Kind of a mix of cloning and transmutation.**

 **ARSLOTHES: While the idea of having Keijutsu paired with Suzuno is interesting, I honestly don't think it would work out. Their personalities, to me, would just clash too much.**

 **Devilscreed: Here, I will address each of your points in turn. For point A, I refer you to my response to NightBringer25. For point B, Keijutsu's devices ages the subject not by manipulating time, but by manipulating entropy. There are many people, including myself and people more intelligent than I, who consider there to be a direct connection between the amount of chaos or disorder in a human body (i.e. the entropy within the body) and aging. So, what Keijutsu's device does is artificially increase the amount of entropy contained within a body, thereby causing it to age faster than it would naturally. If he did have a device to manipulate time, he could skip all that. And for point C, while Keijutsu is aware of Crestia's real name now, he still thinks of her as Suzuno, since that is the first name of hers that he learned of and he will call her that unless they are alone or in only in the company of others who know her real name. Hope that answered all your questions.**

 **And Guest: The cells that Keijutsu took from himself were from before he became a Devil.**

 **And now, we begin!**

* * *

Chapter 17: Lilium

My first memories were of that bed, in that room.

When I first became aware of myself, I was bombarded by sensations. The heat of the air around me, the softness of sheets, the smells of sawdust and disinfectant, the lack of anything in the air to taste. I hadn't even opened my eyes, and it was all slightly overwhelming.

Given the staggering immensity and variety of these feelings, it's no wonder that the first things infants do is cry. Indeed, how could any human react, when they are bombarded with things they have never known before, and have no other way to express it? But I… I did not cry. I didn't even moan, or whimper. I just laid there, eyes stilled closed, letting the sensations overwhelm me for the time to took for my body to become used to it.

Then I frowned. Wait a minute. How did I know that my body would become used to these feelings? And for that matter, how did I know what a 'body' and 'feelings' were? The moment I thought of these words, their meanings came to mind, like entering something into a search engine and having the result spat back out at you. Which in turn meant that I understand the concept of things such as 'spat', 'mind' and 'search engine'. Now how was that?

I certainly had no memories associated with things. I had no memories beyond that time lying in that bed. Maybe I had the memories at one point, and then lost them. But then shouldn't the knowledge associated with such memories be gone as well? A closer inspection showed that, no, I had not lost any memories. Somehow, I knew all these things, without having experienced them.

To have knowledge with no corresponding memories. Comparing that memory-less knowledge with the few memories I had—the sensation of a bed, of heat, of smelling—I deduced that such an experience was rather… odd.

Then I tried moving, and the bombardment came anew. The sound of rustling sheets, of the stiffness in my joints, the intake of breath that I automatically knew was a response to said stiffness. Seriously, all I had done was lie there and then fidget a little, and my senses were having a field day. How did anyone stand this?

At that point, I also became aware of a strange sound. How had I not noticed it before? It was metallic, as well repetitive. It came, again and again, at regular intervals. A kind of… ticking. A clock, or something that had a clock. Huh. Now I had a way to tell time. This knowledge in my head told me how to count, so all I had to do was keep track of the number of ticks, and I'd know how much time had passed since I awoke. Useful.

So, while I waited for the maelstrom of sensations to finally abate, I kept track of the number of ticks. When I finally felt comfortable enough to open my eyes, I counted a total of two hundred and ten ticks. Three and a half minutes. So I knew what math was, and could do it in my head.

Slowly, with great care so as to not give myself too much of a shock, I opened my eyes for the first time.

The amount of light in the room was annoying, and I could almost feel my pupils contract in response. The instinct was strong to render my eyes closed again, but I wanted to see my surroundings, and that desire trumped my instincts. Eventually, once the amount of light allowed to enter my eyes was restricted enough, I began to look around.

I was in what appeared to have once been an office or sorts. The room itself gave off a detached, professional atmosphere, and I could see spots on the wall opposite of me where boards might have been. The walls themselves were metal, but not reflective, so I did not see what I looked like. That also meant that, since the walls were the first thing I saw, the first color I saw was gray. And when I looked at both the bed and myself, the two things were practically the same shade of white.

My knowledge told me that such a thing was because I did not possess enough of a pigment called melanin, which was what caused tanning. And the way for me to produce melanin was too be exposed to light in the ultraviolet section of the spectrum, most easily done via sunlight. But since I had never seen the sun, it made since that I didn't have any kind of tan.

Then I heard a gasp, as well as the sound of twin objects hitting the ground, and turned my head to look at something to my right. Sitting there, in what I knew was a 'chair', was another person. This person appeared to be relatively young, as least as far as how my mind told me humans looked. He had hair that looked to be between white and gray, most similar to that of sea salt. His eyes were a purple like lilacs, and he wore a white lab coat over some kind of uniform.

The two objects that hit the ground were books, ones that I instantly felt a sense of raw power emanating from. I wonder what they were for. Looking back at the other person, I saw that he was staring at me, his eyes showing a myriad of emotions. Shock, anticipation, hope, fear, pride, caution… Was simply seeing me enough to cause all that? Why?

For a long moment, neither of us said anything. He continued to look a me with those many emotions, and I looked back with simple curiosity. Eventually, however, I felt a sense of impatience, and chose to spoke. Moving my lips to form the words, feeling the air exit my throat and the vibration of my vocal chords, I spoke my first words. It was a question, something I was curious about.

" _Ti e_ _í_ _mai eg_ _ó?_ "

* * *

"What am I?"

The first words he had ever heard his creation say, and they were in Greek, the language where science began. Ironic, Keijutsu idly thought.

For a moment, upon seeing those eyes open, he felt a sense of intense vertigo. As if the world were crumbling beneath his feet, and he had no idea of the horror would come after. Perhaps _that_ was what Frankenstein had felt, when he beheld the results of his own work. But unlike the good doctor, Keijutsu did not run from this feeling. Rather, he embraced it. And in doing so, the horror vanished, replaced by pure awe.

Slowly, he smiled, and said "You are a human being that I created, the result of the marriage between magic and science."

Silence resumed in response to that, and Keijutsu took that chance to more critically examine the being he had created. He knew it had been a toss up as to what their sex would be, and it turned out that they were female. As he intended, their biological age was equal to that of a sixteen-year old. She had, he was somewhat pleased to note, the same hair and eye color as he, though her hair was straight and long enough to reach her waist.

Her facial structure was somewhat similar to Rias's, though not enough be considered exactly alike. And her build was similar as well, except that she did not possess the same set of massive breasts as the redhead. Seriously, how the Gremory heiress managed to walk around with those _without_ succumbing to back pains all the time was beyond him.

"Created…" she said, and he refocused. "So if you are my creator, then since you are male, does that mean that you qualify as my father?" she asked.

Keijutsu blinked once. Twice. Three times. That… was not a question he was prepared for.

However, after thinking about it for a moment, he supposed that he did count as her father. Both metaphorically, seeing as he created her, and biologically, since his DNA was used in creating her. Another ironic aspect of this situation. Without even having thought of it, he had, at age eighteen, become a father. Oh, Fate had a strange sense of humor.

He nodded, saying "Indeed I am."

The girl nodded back, as if he had confirmed something she already knew, and looked around the room. "And what is significant about where I am?"

"This room is usually my office, the one connected the underground laboratory where I conduct my research," he told her.

"Research?" she parroted.

Smiling even wider, Keijutsu nodded. "Yes, research. My current focus is on what can and cannot be accomplished by using magic, as the exact limits of it are unknown. In order to help forward my research on this topic, I decided to test if magic could be used to create a functioning, intelligent human being. That is to say, you."

The girl looked away, towards the ceiling. "So… that is what I am? The result of an experiment?"

Keijutsu nodded, his smile momentarily fading. He realized that, when hearing what he just said, a normal person might feel a sense of indignation, of anger, perhaps even despair. It was a normal human reaction to realizing that the reason for your creation was not quite so lofty. But he would not do her the disservice of lying. She deserved the truth, no matter how ugly. "Does that upset you?" he asked aloud.

To his slight surprise, she shook her head. "Not really. You had a question, and creating me was how to obtain the answer." Then she looked at him again. "However, given that the objective of your research is to find something that magic can _not_ do, wouldn't successfully creating me mean that the experiment was a failure?" she asked.

He chuckled. "Technically, yes. I suppose it would mean that." Then he shrugged. "But to be honest, I don't find myself to concerned over it. To paraphrase Thomas Edison, 'I have not failed. I've just found another way that magic does work'."

She mulled that over for a minute, before frowning. "Was this Edison also researching magic?" she asked.

Now Keijutsu laughed, sitting back in his chair. "No, he was actually talking about making the incandescent lightbulb. And he didn't find just one way it didn't work; he found ten-thousand. But the point remains that, even though creating you did not tell me what magic can't do, it does tell me one more thing it can, which brings me one step further to success."

"I see," she said, before giving a very small smile. "Then I am… glad… to have helped you, Father."

There it was. That word again. The moment he heard it, Keijutsu tensed, before slowly relaxing. ' _It's going to be a long time before I get used to that. I can tell_ ,' he thought.

Fortunately, he didn't have to reply for that, as the girl continued on with another question. "I do wonder something, though. If you can use magic, and I was created from you, does that mean I can use magic as well?"

Keijutsu hummed, thinking about it. "I suppose so. Or at least, I see no reason why you _wouldn't_ be able to use magic," he thought aloud. Then he blinked, and quickly added "However, whether or not you can do so with any degree of control is another matter entirely. It took me years to be able attain the level of discipline that I have now."

Despite that, she held up a hand to her face and asked "How do I cast magic?"

He looked at her for a moment, confirming that, yes, she was serious about trying it right now. He sighed. So, she had inherited his habit of immediately testing something he was curious about. How wonderful.

"Well," he conceded "Magic as used by humans and Devils is remarkably alike; what's required is a clear and focused imagination, and then you have to bring what you have imagined into reality. The simplest example would be to generate an orb of energy in the palm of your hand. To do that, focus on the thrum of magic energy beneath your skin, and imagine it flowing like a river into your palm. Then visualize the orb clearly in your mind, and it should work. Though, since this is your first try, don't be disappointed if it doesn't work."

She nodded, and turned her attention inwards. If she focused hard enough, she could feel _something_ coursing beneath her skin. However, it wasn't a thrumming so much as it was a pulse, similar to that of her heartbeat. She felt a rush of heat the more she focused on that pulse, almost like a fire. But unlike a regular fire, this felt both less wild, and more… ruthless. As if it would only affect what she wanted it to, and instead of just burning it, it would keep going until there was nothing left. Not even ash.

The girl channeled that power, and imagined it moving down her arm towards her palm. It did so almost eagerly, as if the energy itself had emotions and was glad to obey her commands. She felt it pool within her hand, and the skin there began to noticeably become warm. Then, she did as Keijutsu instructed, and envisioned it forming a sphere above her hand.

Almost instantly, a roar not unlike that of spreading fire filled the air, and the orb appeared in her hand. However, rather than be just pure energy, this orb was black with a red outline, and flickered like an actual fire. "Hmm, strange…" she said, looking closer at it.

Meanwhile, Keijutsu's eyes went huge and his jaw tried going for the floor. Even though this was his first time actually seeing it, it was easy to tell what that thing was. And as to how, his mind was instantly able to make the connection. The Power of Destruction was an ability that, according to Sona, could only be used by members of the Bael Clan. But Rias's mother had been Venelana Bael, before she became Venelana Gremory. Which was why she and Sirzechs could use it.

He had used Rias's DNA simply because the increased longevity of Devils would, he had hoped, lead to a greater-than-average lifespan for the human he created. And maybe it did, thought he had no way yet of knowing. But beyond that, he had also created a human with the same powers. He had created a _human_ with the _Power of Destruction_.

Well, shit.

* * *

Sona frowned. It had been an entire day, and Keijutsu still hadn't arrived at school. It wasn't like him to miss class. Unless it was for an experiment, that was. But even then, he'd usually notify her first that he wasn't going to be there so that she'd tell him what lessons he needed to catch up on. But this time, he hadn't even done that.

Normally, she wouldn't be so concerned, chalking it up to him simply having overlooked it. But given the recent debacle with Kokabiel, the fact that the only holy maiden to have left town was Irina, and her older sister was around… Yeah, she had more than a few reasons to be paranoid.

Which is why she was here now, standing in front of the door to Keijutsu's apartment. It was lunchtime right now, so she had a small amount of time to see if he was here and, if so, if he was alright. If something had managed to attack him while she wasn't looking, or if Serafall had decided to check again if Keijutsu was 'good enough' for Sona…

She still didn't even understand why the former heiress had decided to do that. It wasn't as if Sona was _attracted_ to Keijutsu. Nope, not all. Sure, he was good-looking, that much she'd admit. And he was also smart, someone she could hold a decent conversation with, she didn't have to hide her Devil heritage, and someone who could make actually make her think. No, she was not attracted to Keijutsu Hatsume. But Serafall seemed connived that she _was_.

For all she knew, Serafall could be in there right now, getting just as close and physical as she had been during the open house, while Sona was just standing there! The moment she thought that, Sona's expression hardened, and she glared at the door in front of her. Not on her watch.

So, she raised a hand to the door and politely, but firmly, knocked three times. She didn't even have to wait a minute before the door opened. However, standing on the other side of it was… Suzuno Kamazuki. Her eyebrows went straight up, her mouth opening slightly in shock.

Suzuno, on the other hand, simply said "Ah, Sitri-san, it's see to see you. Please, come inside."

Still somewhat shocked at seeing one of the holy maidens in Keijutsu's house, Sona just nodded and walked inside. Also in the living room were Rasiel, who was sitting on the couch. Fronea was with there in her smaller form and curled up in the small girl's lap. Looking up at her upon her arrival, the Sphinx said "Well, the party's all here. Now we can all wait together."

At that, Sona managed to overcome her surprise, and asked "Wait? What are you waiting for?"

Rasiel smiled. "Oh, Keijutsu wanted the lab to himself for a while. He didn't want anyone disturbing him while he's implanting the required knowledge into his new test subject," she explained.

However, that explanation only served to further confuse her. "What new test subject are you talking about?" she asked, before realizing the answer to her own question. There was only one thing he was testing at that point in time. And if there was a new subject for that experiment…

"He actually did it. He managed to create life," she whispered faintly.

Suzuno nodded. "That's right. I've been living here since the Church excommunicated me, and in exchange I've been acting as Hatsume-san's assistant. I was there when he performed the final tests and watched as he successfully used magic to create a human. Now he's using the Phantom Books that Rasiel gave him to supply that person with the knowledge they need to function," she explained.

Sona looked at her for a moment, before numbly nodding. "I have to see this," she said.

Rasiel hummed and looked at a clock Keijutsu had mounted on the wall. "Well, he should be about done with the knowledge implantation about now anyway. Sure," she said, before lifting up Fronea and setting her to the side. Then the small girl hopped to her feet, creating a magic circle. Sona stepped into it and they were both enveloped in light. When it faded, they were standing in the main area of the lab, where various golems were still working on assigned projects.

The moment the circle faded, Sona walked forward and headed straight for the door to Keijutsu's office. Without delay, she pulled it open… just in time to see someone on the bed conjure a red-black orb.

Sona gasped, and both the girl and Keijutsu looked at her, the latter having turned around to do so. The moment Keijutsu saw her, her eyes went even wider, and his expression paled. For a moment, he just stood there, unsure of what to say. But then, with a large amount of mental effort, he managed to say "Sona-kaichou. I… didn't expect to see you here."

Such was the shock of the Sitri heiress—she was being shocked a lot today, she noticed—that she automatically replied "You didn't notify me that you wouldn't be able to attend school today. I was worried, so I came to check on you."

Keijutsu nodded. "I see. Yes, it _is_ my fault you showed up then, isn't it? Still, I appreciate the show of concern very much. But as you can see, I'm quite fine, so perhaps we could take this conversation into the next room?" he asked. When Sona nodded, he looked back at the girl. "Wait here, please," he said, making her nod as well.

Quickly, he led her back out into the main lab, shutting the door behind him. The moment he did, he released a breath he didn't even know he had been holding. Suddenly, he looked very, very tired, enough that Sona wondered whether or not this would be a good time to ask.

Deciding that it was, Sona wasted no time in asking "Is that her? The human you've been trying to create?"

He nodded. "She is. I created her using two samples of already-existing DNA, one of which was my own. So she is, in a biological sense, my daughter," he replied.

Sona looked at her for a moment, before swallowing. "Your daughter?" she asked slowly. He grunted in confirmation, and Sona sat down at one of the benches. This was too much, far too much. She had respected Keijutsu's work, encouraged it in her own way, and was never one to tell him what was and wasn't possible. But somewhere, in the privacy of her own thoughts, she had believed that this would indeed be where Keijutsu found a limit.

Some part of her had still believed that one couldn't use magic to take something as priceless and valuable as _life itself_ and recreate it. But now she had seen for herself that not had Keijutsu done it, but that human even had the Power of Destruction on top of that…

She blinked and looked up. "How does that girl have the Power of Destruction?" she questioned.

At that, the Artificer looked somewhat sheepish. "Well, like I said, I used two sets of DNA in the creation process. The second set, well, this is the nonzero _chance_ that it _may_ have come from someone who could _possibly_ have contained certain genetics markers that were _probably_ unique to members of the Bael clan," he said quickly.

Sona stared at him. "You used a sample of Bael clan DNA… in order to create a human..." she said.

When he nodded, she groaned and buried her face in her hands. " _Why would you that_?" she asked.

He shrugged. "Well, if I created a human using Devil DNA, I was honestly hoping that the result would be that the human possesses at least a portion of a Devil's increased longevity, enhanced senses, superhuman strength, etc. I hadn't really considered the possibility that any innate magical abilities unique to certain bloodlines might also be transferred," he admitted.

Sona looked up from where she was sitting. "I don't know whether to be more impressed or mortified. Do you have any idea of the ramifications for this? The amount of Devils that will be clamoring for a shot at using your creation process, the outcry from the Bael clan, _everything!_ " she said, nearly shouting at the end.

Keijutsu raised an eyebrow. "Err, you're going to have to explain that part to me. Why would other Devils be interested in my life creation process?" he asked.

Now having something to distract herself with, Sona was able to speak more calmly. "As you know, Devils as a species have a very low birth rate. Not only is this due to our extended lifespan meaning that our society needs fewer children every generation to sustain itself, but the number of pure-blooded Devils remaining after the Great War also makes it much more difficult. But now, here comes along a tested method that, if modified, could be used to make new Devils for any interested person or group of people."

Keijutsu blinked. ' _Huh. I hadn't even thought of using my invention to solve the population issue with the Devils. In fact, come to think of it, I could probably modify it to make new Angels and Fallen Angels too_ ,' he thought. Of course, that train of thought then turned to the idea of the entire Grigori—or the 72 pillars, or whoever was interested, really—taking his invention and using it create new people on a mass scale and training them for war. A near-instant army. ' _Yeah. That would be bad_.'

"Okay, I see what you mean about other people wanting to use my invention. But why would the Bael clan in particular be upset about this?" he questioned.

"That's because the Bael clan is, amongst other thing, extremely proud of their blood and power, to the point that they look down on other Devils, even within the family, who aren't powerful. They also are protective of their bloodline and the Power of Destruction it grants. The Bael almost started a new civil war when they found out that Sirzech's and Rias's mother, Venelana Gremory née Bael, was able to pass it onto her children.

Keijutsu managed to avoid stiffening at that last part. ' _And since I used Rias's DNA, that's why my… daughter… now has it too_ ,' he thought. Out loud, he said "But now I've gone and used a DNA sample containing their bloodline and given that power to a human."

"Exactly. Unless we want them to take every ounce of political clout they have—which is a _lot_ , by the way—and use it against us, we have to find some sort of cover story for why she has it. Then we need to find a way to make sure that people don't think you'll be able to do something like this again and come asking," Sona told him.

The white-haired Devil was silent for a moment, thinking. Plus, there was one other thing he had been curious about, something that he had completely forgotten. During his research on Devils, he had come across a snippet about how, when a Devil and a human conceived a child together, the child was always a Devil, one-hundred-percent of the time. The sample of his own DNA was one that he had set aside before becoming a Devil, but Rias wasn't and had never been human. So why was his offspring not a Devil?

Before he could move any further down that thought process, the two of them were interrupted by a voice asking "Father, who is this woman?"

They both looked to see that the white-haired girl was standing before them, having walked out of the room while they were talking. She was standing a bit unsteadily, as if she weren't quite sure how to use her legs. The fact she still wasn't wearing clothes was not ignored.

Keijutsu had visibly tensed in response to hearing the girl call him that, but he relaxed quickly enough and waved a hand. "This is Sona Sitri, my King, as well the President of the Student Council at the school I attend," he said.

Ever the one to maintain her sense of manners, Sona rose to her feet and bowed. "It's a pleasure to meet you," she said.

The girl tilted her head curiously but did not bow back. Instead, she merely said "The pleasure is reciprocated, Sona Sitri. My name is…" Then she blinked, and her expression became even more curious. "Actually, I don't know what my name is. According to the knowledge I possess, such a thing is given to people by their parents. However, I believe Father has yet to do so."

Both girls looked at Keijutsu, and watched as his expression morphed into one of shock. ' _She's right. All this time we've been talking, and before that when I envisioned creating her… I never gave any thought as to what her name would be_ ,' he thought. To be fair to him, he truly didn't have any way to tell what her sex would be prior to actually conducting the experiment, so he didn't have a lot to go on.

But now the experiment had passed, and the look on the girl's face told him that she was obviously waiting for him to tell her what her name was. He doubted she's be pleased with a name like 'strawberry' or 'fishcake'. No, she deserved a name that was special. Something that reflected the pure nature of both her personality and what she represented, as well as her innocence. Something like…

Keijutsu paused, then smiled. Looking at her, he said "Your name is Lilium. Lilium Hatsume."

* * *

 **So there's that. We have our new character in the form of Lilium, Keijutsu's first major project was a success, and now he has to handle the effects of that. What does that entail? When will the faction meeting start? What will our Artificer's next big project be? Find out next chapter!**

 **Also, as I mentioned before, the poll for who Keijutsu will be paired with shall remain open until one week after this is posted. So, if you have not yet voted, now would be the time. Next chapter, I will announce the result of the poll.**

 **And one more thing. Some of you might recognize the name is chose for Keijutsu's daughter. If you can tell me where I got it from (besides it being Latin for 'lily') I have a digital cookie for you.**

 **Please review! If you flame me then Bruce Lee will smash you with his nunchaku. (I'm just kidding… or am I?)**


	18. Chapter 18: Teaching and the Summit

Author's Note: I do not own High School DxD or anything affiliated with it. The rights to it belong solely to their respective owners.

* * *

 **Ah, the wonders of going to school. Don't you just love how they leave you no time for fun stuff, like writing? Ugh. Well, I managed to get this chapter done regardless, so let's have the replies and then get started!**

 **NightBringer25: While Sona will not being blowing up (the reason for it is in the chapter) as I promised, this chapter does contain the explanation for why Lilium ended up a human.**

 **Carwash36: Shit will only start to hit the fan once Lilium will be revealed to the public, which will not be this chapter.**

 **Frankieu and Mile De: You're welcome.**

 **Xbox432: These are all good guesses, but none quite there. "Lilium" is the name for the opening theme to the anime Elfen Lied, which is one of my all-time favorite anime and also centers on humanoid beings with unusual abilities.**

 **ARSLOTHES and desdelor97: Good try, but no cigar.**

 **Oblivious Ninja IJ: While Saji's infatuation with Sona is made pretty obvious in canon, Sona sees him as more of a younger brother and is not interested in him, especially given that two other members of the Student Council (Momo and Ruruko) are already in love with him.**

 **Beowalfalien: While Lilium and Rias will not come fast to face this chapter, that will probably occur next chapter.**

 **Torque7: Interesting. Where did you get the name Rei from?**

 **Ahsoei: After having written the chapter, I did some additional research and found that, yes, Devil-Human hybrids do exist, with Vali being a case example of this. But Lilium is indeed a special case, for reason discussed below.**

 **A guy1013:** _ **Ask**_ **and ye shall receive.**

 **Redripper666: I agree that, so far, there has been no major change to canon plotline, simply because Keijutsu's actions have not had that big of an effect on it. Yet. I am planning on his presence gradually causing a greater divergence as we get further along.**

 **Ultima-owner: Ding-ding! You are correct! Nice job, and one digital cookie for you!**

 **ThatOneGuyUpstairs: Due to the extended and multiple nature of your reviews, I am currently composing my full response to everything you mentioned in a PM, which will be sent to you sometime today.**

 **Tsun: While Keijutsu is not so far along in his research that he will constantly rolling natural 20's and instantly slaying dragons, he** _ **might**_ **reach that level at some point in the distant future. You are close on the pairing. I do think that he became less combative after becoming a Devil, but not 'boing' (although, that is in the eyes of the reader). As for his sudden attack, that was one example of him not always being calm and taking every piece of information into account. As for not reading about Divine Dividing, he stopped reading once he stopped researching Sacred Gears. For divergence from canon plot, I direct you to my response to Redripper666.**

 **Guest: Sorry to add to the suspense, but everyone else's reactions will not appear until probably next chapter.**

 **And Tohka123: Yes, things are starting to heat up, and Sona remains unaware that it was Rias's DNA.**

* * *

Chapter 18: Teaching and the Summit

"I refuse," Lilium stated firmly.

Keijutsu looked at her, exasperated. "Seriously? It's only for a couple of hours," he said.

"A 'couple of hours' is a long period of time, especially when it is spent doing something unpleasant," she countered.

"It's only one piece of clothing!" he exclaimed.

"A piece of clothing that is small enough to be redundant with regards to its purpose."

"Every other female student will be wearing it!"

"That is not a valid reason. If everyone else thought that jumping out of an airplane without a parachute was a good idea, would you join them?" she stated dully.

Keijutsu's expression turned deadpan. "I can hardly compare wearing a skirt to jumping out of an airplane," he told her.

"And I can hardly ignore the fact that you are avoiding my point," his daughter said.

Keijutsu felt like screaming.

It had been all of one week after his successful creation of a human being, and things had been rather hectic since then. He and Sona had finally concocted a plan for how to explain Lilium's creation. According to their story, Keijutsu had been experimenting with random strands of DNA from humans and Devils and had used them in a highly volatile process to create a living being.

That process was so unpredictable that, between the random surges of energy that occurred during it, the unstable nature of the magic circle and the flaws in the runic arrays, there was practically zero chance of Keijutsu ever being able to do it again, much less alter the ritual for any purpose other than making humans.

This version of events would dissuade any groups interested in breeding their own army, or trying to create new members of their species, like the Angels. It also provided a small amount of cover for if—and when—the news of Lilium's Power of Destruction came about. After all, Keijutsu had never experimented with Bael clan DNA before, so how was he supposed to know that one of the samples used contained the same properties?

Throughout the entire ordeal, Keijutsu had been able to keep exactly _which_ member of the Bael whose DNA he used, even from Sona. While he was sure that the violet-eyes Devil was curious, her response when he asked had been surprising. Apparently, Sona did not know whose DNA he used, did not _want_ to know, and hoped to never find out. In her own words, "The less I know, I better off I'll be in anyone finds out". Something he had no problem agreeing with.

Although neither of them knew it, the fact that Keijutsu was single and thus not in a relationship with the owner of the other DNA set also helped Sona reach that decision.

Once they had finished spending the afternoon concocting that story as well as any other fabrications they needed for those with more questions, they moved onto the next part of the plan. That plan was to have Lilium enrolled in Kuoh Academy as a student after the Faction Meeting. By doing this, she would remain near not only Keijutsu, but the Student Council and the Occult Research Club. Anyone who wanted to question or kidnap his daughter would have to go through him, the peerage he was part of, and Rias and her peerage as well.

Getting Lilium the needed papers to be enrolled hadn't even been that hard either. Apparently, Rias's father, Zeoticus Gremory, was an administrator in the school, and had been the one to arrange for the enrollment of Asia Argento and Xenovia Quarta. All it took to convince him to do the same for Lilium was a personal request from Serafall during the Open House, who was in turn asked by Sona.

Granted, Sona did have to "bribe" her older sister with the promise of a "sisters' night out" for her to do it, but there were worse things Serafall could have demanded. And once the deal was made and the request made, Zeoticus saw no reason to defy a favor/order from one of the four Satans.

Now with a working story for Lilium's creation and her place as a new student (she would be introduced as Keijutsu's sister, home from studying abroad) all that had been left was to get Lilium ready for interacting with other people besides the two of them. It was on this step that they ran into problems.

Apparently, there were limits to what information the Book of Wisdom was able to pass onto a person. Sure, the Book had made Lilium very intelligent and given her a plethora of _academic_ knowledge on many subjects, it did not give her as much information about _social_ knowledge. This could have been because, unlike something such as mathematics or grammar, social knowledge could only be obtained through participation and experience.

So, why the Book had enabled Lilium to know the meaning of words of phrases and such "manners", "social conduct" and "proper behavior", it did not tell her what those things actually _were_. Having realized this, Keijutsu dedicated the remainder of the week to educating his daughter on the rules of proper behavior that would expected of her.

The fact that this was proving difficult was due to a couple of factors. First, while Lilium could understand the rules or codes of conducting that were based on biology or logical reasoning—bowing one's head or at the waist was a sign of deference and respect to someone of a higher station that oneself, for example—she had trouble understanding and accepting other, less formal rules—such as why staring at another person was considered rude in some cultures while not so in others.

And whenever Lilium encountered a rule or procedure that she did not think was logical or was unnecessary or inefficient, she had no issues with stating as much. Something that, Keijutsu admitted to himself, she had probably gotten from him. Want to discuss nuclear fusion vs fission? She could go on about the various pros and cons of each process regarding cost, availability, environmental hazards, etc. Ask her whether one should use a coffee spoon or a tea spoon? She'd question why you would do something as inefficient as create two different types of spoons, and then compound the issue by making each one only usable for a certain type of drink.

And whenever she asked the reason for something, if you responded with "That's just the way it is" all you received in return was a flat stare and an inquiry as to when your last IQ test had been. Something she _definitely_ inherited from him.

So, he had to go through each social custom he could think of, one at a time, and explain how each one had developed and why she had to follow it or not. He found that explaining them from a logical or biological standpoint made it easier. Clothes were worn to protect the human body from thing such as excess heat, extreme cold, or being burned by sunlight. Students typically ate lunch as group to promote social interaction and to make it easier for the cafeteria to distribute meals.

However, for all his efforts, there were topics where his daughter remained just as stubborn as he could be. At present, the topic was Kuoh Academy's official uniform for female students.

Holding the skirt, the white-haired girl said "By your own explanation, the purpose of wearing clothing is to protect the human body from exposure to the elements. A skirt is supposed to cover a person from the waist downwards. Despite the fact that this can be more effectively does wearing trousers or leggings, skirts are more often worn by females in western cultures. The length of the skirt can also vary due to conceptions of 'modesty' and aesthetics."

"But _this_?" she continued, shaking the skirt. "This is something I disagree with on multiple accounts. Not only do I find no aesthetic pleasure in wearing the color magenta, but all I must do is walk at any pact faster than a leisurely stroll, and anyone is looking in my general direction will see my undergarments. Which, according to you, is a violation of preserving one's 'modesty'. And that same lack of length makes it virtually useless in protecting my legs from outside exposure."

Keijutsu held up a hand. "Look, I agree that the length of the Academy skirt does cause a girl's panties to be very easily visible. However, while the skirt does not protect your legs as much as full-length skirt would, is some protection not better than none?" he pointed out.

That made Lilium pause. He could see that she was seriously considering his statement, trying to see if there was a fault in its logic. To his dismay, she seemed to have found one, as she looked back up with that same expression from before. "So, by your reasoning, if my wearing some sort of lower garment is taken as a given, I should at least wear this skirt for no other reason that to have at least a modicum of protection?" she asked.

When he nodded, she continued "Then by that logic, why should I not wear some sort of longer skirt, even better, a set of trousers. That way, I am wearing a lower garment and am more effectively covered than I would be by wearing this?"

Keijutsu inwardly groaned. "We've already gone over this. Wearing the set of trousers from the male uniform with rest of the female uniform is not allowed, nor is any other mixing of the uniforms!" he told her, aware of how much he sounded like Sona in that moment.

Lilium nodded. "Then in that case, why don't I forgo the female uniform entirely and wear the male one? It's not as if a student wearing the uniform for their opposite gender is unprecedented, given what you've said about the vampire with the **Forbidden Balor View**."

The Artificer's eyes bulged, and he had to once more resist the urge to scream. The worst part was that she was right, the existence of Gasper did mean that wearing the opposite uniform—or at least, a male student wearing the female uniform—did have precedent.

Then, seeing that his daughter was not going to budge on this issue, he sighed. "I'll... talk to Sona about letting you wear the male uniform. Or at the very least, wearing a longer skirt," he conceded.

Lilium smiled and nodded, satisfied. "Thank you. Now that that's been temporarily settled, let's move onto the subject of my classes. Given the knowledge you implanted in me, is it really necessary for me to be enrolled as a third-year student and not as part of the college division?" she asked.

Keijutsu groaned and banged his head against his desk.

* * *

Night had fallen, and Keijutsu was taking this chance to go on an evening stroll to help clear his minds. So many things took up his focus now. Looking after Lilium, schoolwork, what his next research topic would be, the list went on. Times like this helped to calm him down and enable him to focus.

This time, however, he was accompanied by Rasiel, who had decided to tag along so that they could talk.

"So, what did you want to speak about?" she asked.

Keijutsu reached into his coat and pulled out the two Phantom Books. He handed them to the young girl, who gleefully accepted both of them. With a small flash of golden light, both books vanished, returned to the Library and Raziel. Once that was done, he said "I've been trying to come up with a reason for one of the results for my recent experiment. One source I had read said that the offspring of a human and Devil would in turn be a full Devil, with no human in them. Another source said that the offspring would be a Devil-Human hybrid. Yet, with regards to Lilium, neither event occurred. Instead, she is a full human, despite the fact that she can wield the Power of Destruction. I though you might have an ides as to why."

Rasiel was silent for a while, jumping from object another while she thought. Eventually, she said "I can think of one explanation. Perhaps her 'devil-hood' was taken from her."

Keijutsu looked up at her. "Taken from her? How?" he asked.

"Oh, it's rather simple," she told him, nodding even as she spoke. "Yes, I'm sure that's why. If you remember, I told you that the Book of Equivalence to transfer the knowledge from the Book of Wisdom to your daughter, the Book would take from whichever said stood to gain more. And that the value of that knowledge versus the success of your project was subjective. My guess is, whether you were aware of it or not, you considered the knowledge you were giving her to be more valuable than your success."

The Artificer grunted, already making the connection. "And because of that, the Book of Equivalence took away any Devil traits from her?"

"Exactly. Not only did you believe the knowledge you were giving her to be more valuable, your entire project was intended to create a living _human_ being. So, when trying to decide whether to take away her humanity or her devil-hood, the Book responded to that and took away all traits she would have gained from being part-Devil," Rasiel explained, before pausing. "Well, _almost_ all traits. It still left her with the in-born ability to use magic, including any that were unique to her DNA"

Keijutsu nodded, before sighing. "Even now, the effects of the Phantom Book still continue to amaze me. Still, this does provide an answer for how this happened, so I won't be surprised if I ever try it again."

"Speaking of which, what are you going to do now that you've proven that magic can be used to create life? Are you going to try to resurrect the dead? Create an inexhaustible source of clean energy? Oh! What about becoming immortal?" Rasiel asked, grinning at all the chances for amusement her ideas would create.

He chuckled. "No, nothing so grand—though I may save that immortality part for later in my life. No, I think now would be the time to refocus on my research into Sacred Gears. I never even finished the book you gave me that contained a list of them all. It was why I was so surprised that something like the **Forbidden Balor View** existed."

Rasiel frowned. "But I thought you said that your research there came to standstill after your tried recreating the **Absorption Line**? From what I remember, while you were able to create decent copies of it that ran off pure magic, they were all flawed in some way, or weaker than the original," she pointed out.

"True. But from what Azazel and I discussed, he's encountered the same issue with artificial Sacred Gears being weaker than regular ones. So even though he is ahead of me due to having made one, I may not be as far off as I thought. Not to mention, from my brief inspection of his **Down Fall Dragon Spear** , I suspect that holy energy may be required in its construction, something I've had no access to so far, for obvious reasons."

Her frown grew. "Then you'll need to develop some sort of device that can gather and store holy energy without you ever coming into contact with it. And you'll need to perform further examinations on other Sacred Gears to get an idea of how its used in the creation of one. There are enough Devils you know that the second part will hardly be any challenge. But how are you going to accomplish the first part?"

At that, Keijutsu grinned. "Ah, my dear Rasiel, you once again underestimate me. I'll figure it out, just you wait," he said.

Rasiel was tempted to argue that but chose not to. Who knows, she thought his last project was doomed to familiar as well. Maybe he'll prove her wrong again.

* * *

 **A few days later…**

The time had come. The summit between the Angels, Devils and Fallen Angels. This would be the meeting where, some hoped, centuries of hatred and bloodshed could finally be put to rest. Or, some others expected, the leaders of the Three Factions would commence that the war had started anew, and the killing would begin all over again.

Due to having been participants in the fight against Kokabiel, Rias had been allowed to bring Akeno, Asia, Kiba, Xenovia and Issei to the meeting, while Sona was allowed to bring Tsubaki, Saji and Keijutsu. The two groups were standing along one wall behind where Sirzechs and Serafall were seated. Across from them was Azazel, who only had a single silver-haired teen behind him. That had initially surprised Keijutsu, until he focused his senses and realized what made this teen so special. He was the holder of **Divine Dividing** , the White Dragon Emperor.

Between the two of them sat a man with long blond hair and green eyes, wearing a red robe with a golden cross and golden shoulders plates with a white sash. Even if the floating golden halo hadn't given it away it away, it was easy to guess that this man was the Archangel Michael. And standing behind him, to Keijutsu's immense surprise, was Irina.

Once Rias and her group arrived, Sirzechs clapped his hands together. "Perfect. Now that everyone is present, this Faction Meeting can begin," he said, smiling.

"Oh? So these are the young Devils that managed to hold off Kokabiel's assault?" Michael asked, tilting his head.

"Looks like. Sorry one of my subordinates causes you so much trouble. Don't worry, he'll be on ice for a long, time," Azazel assured them.

That did little to ease the tension on the room, which prompted Serafall to clear her throat. "Perhaps we should start with having Rias and Sona go over the events of the battle," she suggested, showing a rare moment of seriousness.

When the other three nodded, the two heiresses stepped forward and retold the events of the battle. The fusion of the Holy Swords, their ultimately failed attempts to match Kokabiel in strength—including Keijutsu's removal of the Cadre's entire light arm and his right hand—and the timely intervention of the White Dragon Emperor, who claimed to be doing so on Azazel's orders.

"The rest of the details regarding the event can be found in my official report," Rias stated.

Sona nodded, adding "As heiress to House Sitri and sibling to the current Leviathan, I can attest to the veracity of this report."

Sirzechs nodded as well, saying "That will be all. Thank you."

Unable to help herself, Serafall smiled and said "Great job, So-tan! I'm so proud of you!"

While Sona stiffened and did her best to avoid letting her face flush in embarrassment, everyone else avoided laughing at the exchange, even if one or two snickers managed to get out. As it was, Michael asked "Governor General Azazel, do you have any comment you wish to make regarding this incident?"

Azazel shrugged. "There's not much to it. Kokabiel disobeyed my orders to not start a fight and went rogue. I doubt he would have tried to destroy the whole town if he knew I was staying here, but he definitely acted without my approval," he stated.

Sirzechs's smile faded. "be that as it may, I'm still troubled by the fact that a such a high-ranking member of the Grigori launched an unprovoked attack on known Devil territory. Especially since he did so with the express intent of forcing the Great War to restart.

The Fallen Angel shrugged. "What can I say? The fact the war ended at all was something he was never happy about. If Kokabiel had his way, everyone would have kept fighting and fighting until all the was left was ruins and smoke. But I'm not interested in that," he said.

Due to standing directly across from him, Keijutsu noticed how the White Dragon Emperor—Vali, that was his name—seemed to frown further after hearing those words.

Serafall leaned forward. "He's not the only one who isn't happy with the cease-fire as it stands now. There are people on all sides who would like to to change," she pointed out.

"Exactly. So I propose that we indeed change the status quo. And set up a treaty for official peace," Azazel declared.

That caused everyone in attendance, Angel or Devil, to look at him with shock. Peace was the desired outcome of this summit, yes, but to hear it so boldly stated out loud? ' _What are you playing at, Azazel?_ ' Keijutsu thought.

Michael voiced those thought, and Azazel replied "That is the reason we all agreed to be here, right? The constant 'skirmishes' only push us closer to war and aren't helping anybody involved. So let's agree to put the past behind us and put all this warmongering to rest."

Before any could object, he added "But hey, don't take my word for it. Let's hear what our resident Artificer has to say."

Keijutsu had to just enough time to blink before all eyes were on him causing his own to grow huge. "Wait, me? Why do you want to hear my opinion? Shouldn't you be consulting the two Dragon Emperors? After all, they were the reason the Three Factions joined together once before," he said.

Michael nodded. "That is true. However, you are the only one besides the Vanishing Dragon that was able to land a decisive blow against Kokabiel. Powers speaks for itself, Keijutsu Hatsume, and that level of strength means that your opinion has weight," he said in his ever-gentle tone.

Not finding a real reason to argue against that, Keijutsu bit her lip and gave in. "I'm a researcher. I pose questions to myself, come up with how to find the answer, and then do it. There are times where conflict can be an incentive to progress, especially when people are trying to come up with ever more creative ways to kill each other. But overall, a lasting peace would be more beneficial to not just myself, but to everyone in the Three Factions. That's what I think, anyway."

Azazel grinned. "See, that's just my point, Restarting the Great War would help no one, so why don-" he began, before there was suddenly a burst of bright pink light.

* * *

The entire room was suffused with a light purple hue, and several people—Sona, Tsubaki, Keijutsu, Asia and Akeno—seemed to be enveloped in an aura the same color. Each of them was completely immobile, not even blinking.

Sirzechs, Serafall, Michael, Azazel, Grayfia and Rias were completely unaffected. Kiba, Xenovia and Irina were each suddenly holding their respective swords, which were emitted a soft golden light. The gauntlets that made up Issei's **Boosted Gear** and Saji's **Absorption Line** had also appeared, as did a pair of blue-white wings from Vali's back.

Issei looked around. "Is it just me, or did time stop?" he asked aloud.

Michael nodded, his smile had vanished. "Yes, though those of us with sufficient power were unaffected. Those with Holy Swords or Sacred Gears containing sentient spirits were also protected," he said.

That was when they all heard and felt a large surge of energy coming from outside, and several of the Devils present rushed to the windows to look outside. There was a giant orange rectangular glyph hovering the sky, and emerging from it were dozens of unknown figures dresses in black cloaks. Each cloak also had a design of three golden eyes on the hood, from which they were shooting small rays of energy.

Those rays impacted harmlessly against the barrier around the school, but the simple fact they were attacking at all proved these forces to be hostile.

"Who are these freaks?" Issei eloquently asked.

Serafall glared at them through the window. "They're Magicians, groups of humans who can wield magic and act as a group. They don't ally with any one side, and generally stay neutral to the Three Factions. They're also an insult to real magical girls like me!" she exclaimed, putting at that last part.

Kiba looked around. "So how were the others frozen?" he asked.

"It must have been that Gasper and his **Forbidden Balor View**. Something must have happened that forced him to activate it to such an extent," Grayfia said.

Just then, there was a flash of light that enveloped Keijutsu and Sona, and everyone there felt a pulse of magic energy coming from the two Devils. When the light faded, both were now moving and blinking. "Whoa! _What_ in the _world_ just happened?!" Keijutsu asked.

Saji blinked once, twice, and then stared. "What the hell? How did you two just unfreeze yourselves?" he questioned.

At that, Keijutsu's expression turned somewhat sheepish, and he pulled back the sleeve of his lab coat enough to reveal that his forearm was covered in some sort of cloth-metal mesh. "This is made from the same material as an invisibility cloak that I was working on. After experiencing Gasper's Sacred Gear a while back, I… modified… the material with runes to release a short burst of my magic if I was ever hit by it again. Not enough to hurt anyone, but enough to break me out of it. And afterwards, I had enough material left over for a second one, so I made one for Kaichou as well," he explained.

Azazel chuckled. "And you've been wearing it since then just in case? A little paranoid of you, don't you think?"

The Artificer shrugged. "Better to be safe than sorry, I learned at a young age," was his reply.

While Azazel merely laughed some more, Grayfia spoke up. "The fact that our they are able to attack the school directly means that the guard we set up is no longer here. Which in turn means that the Magicians were able to link their own teleportation circles to the barrier's outer defenses and force them out. That same barrier is also likely to stop us if we try to teleport out," she stated.

"So, we are truly trapped. Their timing combined with using Gremory-san's Bishop too impressive. I suspect we've been betrayed," Michael said.

Sirzechs nodded. "Indeed. We must act to remove Gasper from the enemy's hands quickly, before they can force him to activate the **Forbidden Balor View** any further and potentially unleash a Balance Breaker.

Rias stepped forward. "I'll get him back. My unused Rook piece is still inside the Old Schoolhouse. If I castle with it, I can get inside and then fight to free Gasper," she declared.

While Sirzechs and Grayfia were nodding in agreement, offering to let Issei go with her by using some of Sirzechs's own power to the castling, Azazel turned to Vali. "You're itching for a fight, aren't you?"

Vali smirked. "Of course, I am. There's nothing I hate more than sitting around and doing nothing," he replied.

"I thought so. Why don't you be the first to go outside and welcome our invited guests. Seeing the Vanishing Dragon on the opposing sight should give them a good scare," the Governor General suggested.

Vali didn't need to say anything word. He quickly conjured a magic circle to warp outside, where he summoned the rest of his armor and began flying towards the waves of Magicians.

Seeing that there wasn't anything that could be done until Rias and Issei got back, Keijutsu was prepared to pull up a chair and wait. However, not five minutes later there was another surge of energy, this accompanied by an orange-gold magic circle that spawned inside the room.

Everyone except the faction leaders tensed, sensing that whoever was coming through was far stronger than the average Devil or Angel. Sirzechs's and Serafall's eyes both widened, with the redhead stating, "I recognize this magic! But why…?" he said.

From the magic circle emerged a tall woman with tan skin, long brown hair tied up in a bun, and purple eyes and dull pink glasses. Her figure was very voluptuous, which was further enhanced by the low cut of her dresses and the extremely large amount of cleavage it showed off. In her right hand was a dark wooden staff

"Well, well, well, what have we here? The filthy pretenders to the names of Lucifer and Leviathan, Sirzechs Gremory and Serafall Sitri," she said, smiling happily, However, one look was enough to see that said smile was as fake as could be, and her eyes showed nothing but malice.

Serafall glared at her. "Katerea Leviathan. Why are you here?"

Katerea smile changed to a menacing grin. "Why? To bring death upon you all, of course!" she said, before raising her staff into the air. Between the two branches at the top, a sphere of burning orange energy appeared, before quickly exploding.

They had just enough time to begin conjuring a barrier before the blast enveloped them. The entire section of the school was leveled, leaving behind a smoking crater while the section of the school it was attached to had caught fire. However, before the blast could hurt anyone of them, Azazel, Michael, Sirzechs and Serafall each acted, working together to create a defensive shield large enough to envelop everyone.

"Katerea, this is madness! What are you thinking?!" Sirzechs demanded.

Undeterred by failing to kill them all, Katerea laughed. "Apparently, I'm thinking the reverse of what all of you are. Just because God and the original Satans are gone, that doesn't mean we should make peace! What we should be doing is wiping the Angels and Fallen Angels out completely while their numbers are down, and establishing a new world order!" she proclaimed.

Keijutsu rolled his eyes. ' _Great. Yet_ another _warmonger. Are they all part of some secret club or something?_ ' he thought, before pausing to consider that thought. Actually, if there were enough strong people like this woman and Kokabiel who wanted war, the idea of them coming together to form some sort of terrorist organization kind of made sense. And forming a plan to assault a summit between the factions like one definitely seemed like something a terrorist organization would do. Crap.

Azazel had likely come to same conclusion as well. But rather be disturbed by it, the Fallen Angel chose to laugh. "You're kidding right? Bring death on all, new world order? Can you be any more of a cliché?" he taunted.

Katerea glared at him, and they could visibly see wisps of energy beginning to rise off her. "Azazel, you dare mock me?"

"Oh, I dare indeed," he said, letting his own power begin to come forth. He stepped forward and spread all twelve of his wings, rising into the air. "A descendent of the original Leviathan, a desperate women who wants to go back to a bygone age. This should be interesting," he declared.

While the two of them flew forward and began to duke it out, Michael , Sirzechs and Serafall placed the barrier back up to avoid being caught in the crossfire. Even so, what Magicians weren't being taken out by Vali unleashed blast after blast against it, trying to break through.

Michael sighed. "Until we manage to ascertain the nature of the barrier they've placed, we won't be able to leave. We need to buy, and this barrier we've conjured won't be enough.

Hearing that, the three Holy Sword wielders looked at each, before nodding. Keijutsu looked Sona and in the eyes, raising an eyebrow. Saji smirked and Sona smile slightly, nodding as well. The six of them stepped forward, with Xenovia announcing "If you'll allow it, we'd be happy to draw their attention away and hold off their assault."

All six of them affirmed that they indeed could, prompting Sirzechs to say "Very well. Be careful, and try to steer clear of those two as they're fighting."

Serafall pouted, not wanting to let Sona out herself at risk. But even so, she could see that this would be the best course of action to dismantling the barrier as quickly as possible. "Don't you dare get hurt, So-tan!" she said.

Rather than be embarrassed for once, Sona nodded, and the six of them moved outside the barrier to confront the Magicians.

Predictably, upon seeing that they had new targets, several of the Magicians redirected their fire at them, forcing them to scatter. While Kiba, Irina and Xenovia charged straight forward, swords held high, the rest of them hung back.

"Pathetic. I'll show you real magic!" Sona called, and conjured a large orb of water in front of her. That orb then split apart and took the shape of two miniature dragons, both of whom releasedc very realistic roars before flying forward.

Some of them tried flying around to attack from behind, but Saji saw them coming and shot off the tongue from his Absorption Lin. It wrapped around the Magician and began glowing purple, draining them in a matter of seconds.

Keijutsu raised both eyebrows at that, wondering when Saji had been practicing his Sacred Gear. Eh, he could find out later. Focusing on the task at hand, Keijutsu thought ' _It's too bad that this damnable barrier prevents me from teleporting anything in as well as out. Otherwise, I could call Suzuno and Fronea here and let them help out as well_.' That also prevented him from summoning any of his inventions that he didn't already have on him, such as his ornithopters or golems. Then he smirked, However, just because he couldn't teleport anything in or out, that didn't make teleportation circles worthless.

He spread his arms and created large one in the air in front of him, bathing his face and the ground around him in blue light. The blasts of energy that were aimed at him hit the magic circle and vanished. Assuming it to be some sort of shield, the Magicians kept casting, not even noticing another magic circle appear in the air behind them.

Or at least, they didn't notice until the blasts they shot at him emerged from the teleportation circle, striking their casters from behind. Almost a dozen were hit before they realized what had happened, and ceased fire. Grinning, Keijutsu took the chance to stomp on the ground, creating six more teleportation circles behind him. The two larger ones he was using also faded, replaced by six regular-sized ones in front of him.

With a mental push, he sent them flying forward, aiming for the areas in the sky with the largest concentration of enemies. While most of the Magicians were able to hover out of the way, at least one person was caught in each circle, which teleported them to the circle behind him… which he conjured upside-down.

Six loud combination of squelches and crunches very much reminded Magicians why you were _never_ supposed to teleport into the same space as another solid object.

While the collective horror the Magicians felt kept momentarily them from attacking, Keijutsu took the moment to catch his breath. Hopefully, Grayfia will have figured out how to bypass their barrier soon enough, and they could summon reinforcements. Or that Issei and Rias hurried and rescued Gasper and Koneko. Otherwise, they could be in trouble.

* * *

 **And I'm ending right here with a cliffhanger! Ha ha! But hey, we got a lot of stuff done this chapter. Get some more information on Lilium, who will probably be introduced to the rest of the world next chapter, we got a hint of what Keijutsu will research next, and we're well into the Faction Meeting. To be continued next chapter!**

 **Also, as promised, the poll for the pairings of this story has been closed, and the final result tallied. With nine more votes (or 10%) than the next option, the decided on pairing will be with Sona Sitri, Serfall Leviathan and Juvia Lockser. Now, before any of who who voted for the other options get your knickers in a twist, I will state once again that these pairing will not be taking off right away. The third member, Juvia, has not even been introduced in the story yet, and I am being very careful to take each individual romance at a slow pace. I've tried doing harems before, and now I've learned my lesson. (Hopefully.)**

 **In any case, please review! If you flame me then Bruce Lee will smash you with his nunchaku. (I'm just kidding… or am I?)**


	19. Chapter 19: Assault on the Peace Summit

Author's Note: I do not own High School DxD or anything affiliated with it. The rights to it belong solely to their respective owners.

 **Hello, one and all. It's been a while, hasn't it? I thought that I would be able to both do work classwork and maintain a regular update schedule (believe it or not, having class actually helps, since it keeps me motived to do stuff) but over the past month that hasn't quite worked out. As we get closer to the winter holidays, however, it looks like that may be turning around. Who knows? Either way, first the replies, then we go on!**

 **Torque7: Ah, I see. I haven't actually watched Evangelion yet (criminal, I know) so I didn't get what you were referring to. But now I know.**

 **Ahsoei: I understand how you feel, and Juvai herself won't even be making an appearance until… probably around the events in Kyoto.**

 **S0UL-essen: I agree. Despite its divergence from the manga ending, Elfen Lied was and will remain one of my favorite anime series. Especially the opening.**

 **Mile De: You're welcome.**

 **Xbox432: Yeah, I was trying to think of something creative for Keijutsu to do, and then it hit me while I was watching a playthrough of** _ **Portal 2**_ **. The possibilities are indeed vast, including the part about overlapping atoms. The sheer destruction that could cause… *shudder*. And yeah, I wasn't going to include Keijutsu in the fight and not include Sona as well. Also, glad you liked the way I portrayed the start of the interactions between Keijutsu and Lilium.**

 **A guy1013: The scene with Lilium wasn't as long as I pictured it yes, but at that time she still hasn't been introduced to the rest of the world, and I wanted to save that for after the Faction Meeting.**

 **Frankieu and OechsnerC: Thank you for your kind words.**

 **Neo Infinity: Having Koneko in the harem is a nice idea (I do like her character) but I'm keeping myself to three girls, and these were the ones I and the other readers chose.**

 **Ultima-owner: More like he teleprted those people into the same space as the ground, causing them to explode. For more details, look up the phrase 'tele-frag'.**

 **Darth Ralan: While the idea of it amuses me, no, Keijutsu is not a plansewalker.**

 **Lin faz: Ask and ye shall receive.**

 **And GrindingV2: Sona had her King and one Queen left, while Keijutsu had his King, one Knight and one Pawn. Then Sona used her Queen to capture the Pawn, which was a mistake as it enabled Keijutsu to capture the Queen with his knight. That left her with just a King and him with a King and a Knight, which is not enough to cause a checkmate on either side before 50 moves had passed. So, rather go for another fifty turns, I just had them call it draw there.**

 **And now, we begin!**

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Chapter 19: Assault on the Peace Summit

It was supposed to be a simple fight. Legions upon legions of human magicians versus three Holy Sword wielders, while their Devil leader took one of the strongest of the Fallen Angels. Each one of them had a fairly predictable fighting style. The blue-haired one used her Durandal to simply create of much destruction as possible, the sheer number of explosions and amount of damage she was causing meaning the she didn't even need to worry about defense.

What few hits did get past Xenovia's guard were blocked by Irina, who was did not possess nearly the same destructive prowess as her former comrade, but was no slouch with a blade either. And the shapeshifting ability of her Excalibur Mimic meant that, anytime she needed, she could change her sword into a shield and back to either defend or delivery a near-surgical strike.

As for Kiba, despite his ability to wield any of several different kinds of swords, he never used anything besides his Holy-Demonic Sword for that particular fight. And he likewise did not favor sheer strength, but speed instead, moving faster than the Magicians could react and thus could not really be target for attacks.

Put all three of them together, and they were more than a match for the rank-and-file Magicians that were being sent to kill them. But their fighting styles, lethal as they were, could still be somewhat predicted. And more importantly, none of them could go on forever, Eventually, with the amount of energy required to continue using Durandal, Xenovia would run out of steam and her attacks would weaken. Kiba, given enough time, would become slower and slower in his movements. And Irina, while probably lasting the longest out of all of them, would eventually be overwhelmed was it was just her fighting alone.

In effect, their victory over the three teens would be almost assured, provided they had keep go one fighting long enough, and had the numbers to do so. Sure, they would be suffering devastating losses just to take out three Holy Sword fighters, but then, their bosses hadn't exactly been expecting the Magicians to be more than cannon fodder anyway.

All of this changed, however, once Saji, Sona and Keijutsu were added to the equation.

The nature of Saji's Sacred Gear meant that just sending enemy after enemy against him would accomplish nothing. Any energy he lost from moving around or dodging would be replenished the next time he used in, completely draining one of their own in the process. With all the practice that he had gotten in using the **Absorption Line** while trying to help Gasper, he could do it in a matter of seconds. Effectively, as long as he could use his Sacred Gear, Saji was an inexhaustible foe that could keep going no matter how long the fight lasted.

The Sitri heiress, while not able to restore her own strength at their enemies' expense, was powerful enough to earn her birth-given status as a High-Class Devil. Her skill with her family's trademark water magic was second to none, able to conjure and manipulate it in truly massive amounts, summoning miniature tsunamis and water whips. And her above-average intelligence, combined with the versatility of her water magic, meant that there was no small number of things she could do with it. Besides the waves and whips mentioned already, she could create razor-sharp spinning discs of water, living water snakes that could bite and/or choke her enemies, turn the ground into mud and then use that to literally bury them… You get the idea.

But even that paled in comparison to the sheer chaos being created by Keijutsu. When it came to using magic in combat, or even combat in general, Keijutsu was of the firm opinion that, even if it worked, you should never use the same move twine. Or, if you were using it twice, to use it a different way each time.

One example was his use of the teleportation inherent in the magic circles. Whether it be redirecting the Magician's shots back at themselves, warping them unto the surface of the barrier to be electrified to a crisp, even using them into forcibly teleport Person A into the same space as Person B (and, as a result, causing Person B to spontaneously explode into many grisly chucks of flying meat).

To be fair, as focused on research and inventing as he was, Keijutsu did not often get to utilize his magic for combat purposes. And if he did, like in the fight with Kokabiel, Suzuno, or those wooden dummies, the enemy was either so strong or so few in number that he didn't really have a chance to show off, or he wasn't allowed to do anything that could kill them. So, in cases like this, with droves of average-strength enemies that he was free to use lethal spells on, he had a tendency to go… overboard.

"Try this!" Keijutsu yelled, conjuring two magic circles in front of him with their corresponding two appearing on either side of the latest group of Magicians. Quickly, he channeled some of his energy to his vocal cords and released the same magic-enhanced scream he had once before. Only this time, due to the sound coming from either side of his targets, it was amplified enough to render them completely stunned and probably deaf. Then, while they were too focused on covering their ears to defend themselves, Xenovia finished them off.

The Artificer grinned before redirecting another volley of energy shots back at their casters, who apparently hadn't learned the lesson that killed almost twenty of their numbers already. That let Sona wrap one of them up with a water whip and then slam it into several more of them, bloodying both the Magicians that were hit and the one she was hitting them with. Seeing that, he decided to match her by targeting the air around a trio of enemy grunts and willing it to move apart, creating a spherical vacuum with those three inside.

The Magicians in question immediately began gasping, having no air to breathe. It grew worse as Keijutsu removed more and more air out of that region, coming closer and closer to creating a complete vacuum. Then, after nearly ten continuous seconds of this, he stopped, letting it all rush back in from the top and bottom. The resulting pressure difference between the atmospheric pressure and the pressure in that spherical region was enough to crush all three Magicians, creating a spray of bloody pieces that spread outwards in a horizontal disk before raining to the ground.

Once the air had finished rushing back in, Keijutsu looked at the rest of them. "Issei said that one should never underestimate the power of a twisted mind. Yet you should also fear me, the one who, with but words and his will, crush you all like insects! Ha-hahaha!" he cackled. And then, to emphasize this, he was once more warped one of the Magicians into the same place as another, causing the Magicians already there to tele-frag.

The performance worked. Fully terrified by his actions, and not willing to attack him in case he decided to pull _another_ trick out of his sleeves, the Magicians completely paused in their assault. That led to a stand-off between the two sides, both glaring at each other and daring them to make a move.

That stand-off lasted less than a minute, interrupted by a voice calling "Dragon Shot!" and two Magicians near Kiba being hit with a blast of red energy. Looking over in the direction it had come from, they saw that Issei had been the one to fire it, and he was accompanied by Rias, Koneko and Gasper.

Once those four joined fight, it became that much easier to get rids of the droves of Magicians. Akeno and Tsubaki were also able to join in once Gasper was able to reassert control over the area of frozen time around the school, undoing it and letting everyone frozen move more. That same act also destroyed the giant magic circle that Magicians had been using to appear, cutting off any reinforcements as well as chances to escape.

With so many of them there, and even the weakest of them in a whole other league from the Magicians, it stopped even being entertaining to fight the, and soon just turned repetitive and, in Keijutsu's opinion, boring. Still, it had to be done, so he continued fighting with the rest of them, sticking to only using creative uses for teleportation circles just because he could. In short ordered, not a single enemy remained.

That was when Azazel chose to hover down near Keijutsu, saying "Well, looks like that takes care of that."

The Artificer nodded, before looking over at him. "What the-? What the hell happened to your arm?" he bluntly asked, gesturing at the stump where Azazel's left arm had been.

The Fallen Angel glanced down at it before looking back at him. "Oh, Katerea had grabbed me there and was going to use some kind of suicide attack at finish me off. So I cut my arm off and them stabbed her between the eyes," he said far too casually.

Keijutsu simply stared at him for a moment. The way Azazel was acting, you'd think someone had just stolen one of his shoes, one that he could find a replacement for at any time and just keep on acting as normal. ' _Actually, now that I think about, he probably_ could _make himself a prosthetic arm. And depending on how work he put into it, he could likely make it behave almost exactly like a real arm_ ,' he thought.

Which inspired his next blunt question. "Exactly how many parts of your body have you lost before now?"

Azazel grinned somewhat sheepishly. "If we're including all the times I've had to replace my liver from drinking too much over the centuries, as well as all the times I had to make myself a new set of balls because a angry woman I had previously slept with cut them off? Probably about fourteen times. But this is the first time I've lost an arm," he stated.

That stare turned deadpan, and Keijutsu silently wondered just how much of a drunken pervert Azazel was when he wasn't leading the Fallen Angels or working on Sacred Gears.

Before they could continue with that _fascinating_ conversation, however, they were interrupted by a blast of white energy, one which hit Azazel and sent him to the ground. That same blast also created an explosion that briefly sent Keijutsu flying until he summoned his Devil wings. Looking in the direction it came from, he was only slightly surprised to see Vali hovering there, the white wings from his **Divine Dividing** armor keeping him aloft.

Before the teen could even say anything, the Artificer said "Let me guess. You're the one that betrayed us and let the Magicians past the barrier so they could kidnap Gasper Vladi?"

"That's right, Artificer. Sorry, Azazel, but I've switched sides," Vali stated, looking down at the crater his attack he created.

Azazel climbed out of the crater, still wearing that same smirk, before rising into the air via his own wings. "I suppose I understand. You like fighting, and an established peace would out an end to that. Still, let me ask you something. Shemhazai, my right-hand man, has been giving me reports of an underground organization gathering followers from all three factions. The Khaos Brigade. And aren't they being led by Ophis?"

Keijutsu blinked. ' _Wait. Ophis. As in, the Infinite Dragon God, strongest being alive in all dimensions? That Ophis?_ ' he thought.

Vali nodded. "That's right. Though trust me, neither Ophis or I have any plans for world domination. That was the Old Satan Faction's ambition, and theirs alone. And despite also having one of the original Satans as an ancestor, I have no interest in joining those fools," he stated.

That caused the others to look at him in shock, with Issei asking "Wait a sec. You're a descendant too?!"

"I am. My mother was a human, but my father was the grandson of the first Lucifer, making me half-Devil!" he declared.

Keijutsu blinked. Huh, so there were such things as Devil-Human hybrids. Well, that answered that question. While he spent time thinking about that, he managed to tune out Vali taunting Issei for not being as strong as him, and offering to kill his parents if it would put him on the path to grow stronger. Actually, Keijutsu did hear that last part, and it made him roll his eyes. This was not some kind of shonen manga; avengers were not needed here.

Seeing as how that 'offer' pissed off Issei to the point that he was able to unleash his own Balance Breaker, Keijutsu wisely flew back down to the ground and moved back towards where Michael, Sirzechs and the others were. This was a rivalry between two dragons that had existed long before he had even been conceived. Keijutsu had no intention of interrupting this and getting himself killed.

At least, that was until he watched Issei transfer power to his sword Ascalon and then punched Vali hard enough to shatter his armor, including the blue crystal in the center of his chest. Checking to be sure that everyone else was focused on the fight, Keijutsu discreetly focused on the ground where several of the shards had fallen. Slowly, almost imperceptibly, that mound of earth rose upwards a few centimeters, before slowly sliding across the ground towards him.

Once they were close enough, Keijutsu pulled a small bag out of his pocket and began picking the crystal shards. Danger or no danger, he wouldn't pass up the opportunity for free samples from armor made by a Longinus.

That said, he was somewhat surprised to hear that, while in Balance Breaker form, the **Divine Dividing** could also reduce the size of objects and livinbg beings. ' _Exactly who does that work. Does he half the volume they occupy and the body decreases in mass to maintain a constant density? Or does he half the object's mass and it shrinks itself to compensate? And how does that work for a living beign without killing them?_ ' he thought.

Not that he would have the chance to find out, even by observation, as then Azazel decided to pull a fast one and mention the 'Half Dimension' ability could reduce the size of Rias's breast by half as well. Which, predictably, sent Issei on a warpath against Vali. At that point, Keijutsu could only wonder if it was a blessing or a curse that the **Boosted Gear** had ended up in the hands of such a perverted fool.

Fortunately, before Vali could take it up a notch further and unleash something called the 'Juggernaut Drive', the barrier was abruptly shattered. Landing in front of Vali was a young man with light hair and dark eyes, dressed in ancient Chinese armor and carrying a spear.

Vali blinked. "Bikou? What are you doing here?"

Grinning, the newly-named Bikou said "We're finally going to engage with some of the gods, so I was sent to find you and bring you back."

The White Dragon Emperor smiled. "Really? About time," he remarked, before looking at Issei. "The next time we fight, I would like it if we could take things up a notch, Be ready for then, Issei Hyoudou," he declared, before he let Bikou take him away.

And with that, the two of vanished through a gateway Bikou conjured with his staff.

Keijutsu watched them go, and couldn't help but remark, "Looks like another anti-climactic ending. Boring."

Despite herself, Sona couldn't help but snort. "Only you would consider not potentially being caught in the cross-fire between two dragons as 'boring'," she told him. Still, she was smiling as she said this, prompting Keijutsu to smile as well.

"But of course. The point of observations is that they're up-close and first-hand. Anything else just won't do it," he stated matter-of-factly.

Sona chucked, before abruptly sobering once Azazel came close.

"Well, looks like all that's left to do now is more clean-up. And once the new peace treaty's actually written and signed, the Three Factions and work together at last. Including us," he said, looking straight at Keijutsu.

The Artificer blinked. "Wait. Even now, you still want me to work with you on making Sacred Gears?" he asked, somewhat surprised.

"But of course. After all, there's always room for improvement, and two heads are better than one," Azazel replied.

Keijutsu looked at him for a moment… and then smiled. "I couldn't agree more," he said, holding out a hand. Azazel smiled as well and shook it with his own. "And I can't wait to get started."

With that, Azazel turned and began walking away, likely to head back to his apartment and enjoy a nice drink. No sooner had he gone, however, than Serafall approached them. "You know, So-tan, I've taken quite a liking to this town and school. So much that I'll probably visit soon!" he said cheerfully.

Sona stiffened. Having to keep up with her older sister's excitability every once in a while was enough. If she started making visits on a regular basis… "You don't have to do that. Really, I think it'd be better you actually tried spending more time back in the Underworld-" she began.

But then Serfall cut her off. "Aw, does you not want to see your precious older sister?! Tell me it isn't so! Tsubaki-chan, you're don't mind me visiting, right?" she demanded, pouting.

Momentarily flummoxed from being put on the spot, Tsubaki said "Well, I… I guess I wouldn't mind…" Then she caught sight of Sona's eyes narrowing, and added on "But that's just my opinion. It would be Kaichou that has the final say."

"That's not fair at all!" Serfall complained, before rounding on her last avenue of attack. "Hey, Kei-san! You'd like to see me more often, right?!" she asked.

Too focused on watching the Angels and Fallen Angels fix the school, Keijutsu nodded absently. "Sure, sure, Levi-tan. I don't think I'd—mmmph!" he started, but stopped when Serafall squealed and grabbed his head, stuffing it between her breasts.

"Yay! I knew someone would be happy if I made regular visits. And you even remembered to call me Levi-tan!" she said, spinning him around with a strength that one would expect from a Satan, but was still disproportionate to her smaller stature.

"Mmm, mm mmph mmm mm mph me mmm. Mm-mmm, mm mmph mmm," Keijutsu said calmly. Which, were his voice not muffled due to his current position, would have translated to "Well, you did ask me to do that. Also, I can't breathe."

Tsubaki carefully schooled her features to avoid laughing at the scene. Sona, meanwhile, was torn between dismay over Serafall appearing more often… and a smidgeon of jealousy over the breast smothering that her sister was giving her Bishop.

That last part caused Sona to blink. Wait, what?

* * *

 **So, as you can see, this is probably my shortest chapter to date by about 500 words. I wanted to add more, but this seemed like a good place to end it, and I wanted to get something out before diving back into the rabbit hole that is my coursework (man, Flight Structures is kicking my ass). Still, I hope you all enjoyed it, and look forward to more.**

 **Please review! If you flame me then Bruce Lee will smash you with his nunchaku. (I'm just kidding… or am I?)**


	20. Chapter 20: The Undertaker

Author's Note: I do not own High School DxD or anything affiliated with it. The rights to it belong solely to their respective owners.

* * *

 **And here's the latest chapter of Artificer. I'm somewhat surprised at me ability to get this out before Christmas, but that could probably be attributed to my join over being FINALLY being done with finals. Riding that wave of euphoria is probably what let me finish this chapter, so I hope you enjoy. But first, as usual, the replies!**

 **OeschnerC, Tohka123, GunBlade2018, and carwash36: Thank you for your kind words.**

 **Frankeiu: Yes, Sona is slowly finally becoming aware.**

 **GGPD: Nope, I haven't dropped this story, nor do I see myself dropping it anytime in the near-future.**

 **NightBringer325: Yes, I can very much see Serafall having little issue with sharing a bed with both Keijutsu and Sona. Whether or not Sona has an issue though, that is something only time will tell.**

 **Ahsoei: Yeah. The fact that this arc was more Issei-centric is probably while the last chapter was shorter, as I wanted to get through it as quickly as possible, Now that that's done, we can move from there.**

 **Mile De: You're welcome.**

 **A guy1013: I appreciate you saying so. Since it's my own story, the pacing usually makes sense to me, but I can never tell if it feels exactly the same for others, Glad to hear that I did well on the last chapter.**

 **Xbox432: I will be making use of those crystal fragment in the future, rest assured even I'm not sure precisely what I'll be using them for yet.**

 **Ultima-owner: If you're referring to the part where Keijutsu used pressure differences to essentially flatten that group of Magicians, then yes, that is was brutal.**

 **Wednesday's Jest: If I ever do go back and rewrite that chapter, I probably will end up rewriting the chess scene as well. And if I do, yes, I will be taking inspiration from more professional matches.**

 **And BlackTemplars: Uh… what?**

 **And now, let it begin!**

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Chapter 20: The Undertaker

Keijutsu was broken out of his reverie by the sound of a knock at his front door. Putting aside the folder in front of him, he called "Come in," and looked towards the door.

Walking through it was Sona, who had Tsubaki behind her and was wearing an expression between amusement and exasperation. "You haven't shown up to class for almost a week, Kei-san. I understand that you've done well in your classes this year, but you should finish on a high note instead of being absent for the last week," she told him.

The Artificer blinked before looking at his digital watch, which also had the date on it. Sure enough, five days had passed since he last looked at it. "Whoops. My mistake, Kaichou. I've been so focused on reading through all this that I just.. forgot about everything else," he said, gesturing to the many stacks of papers that were scattered amongst his formerly-clean apartment. Also seated there were Suzuno, who Keijutsu had tasked with helping him go through it all, and Lilium, wearing a simple white sleeveless dress, who had volunteered.

Sona raised an eyebrow and picked up one of the papers. Just looking at it briefly, she could see phrases related to the sealing of powerful creatures, discussions on various materials and their effects on magic, and some small mention of Dragons. Looking at the rest of the stacks, she asked "Are these all the copies of research notes that Azazel said he'd give you?"

"Indeed they are. Despite having seen his work firsthand with that **Down Fall Dragon Spear** , I still underestimated just how much work he put into making that artificial Sacred Gear. I've been comparing what I've been reading to my own research notes as I've been reading, and some of the things Azazel's looked into is decades ahead of where I was," he said, starting to grin. "I'd call getting all of this a complete God-send if I didn't know God had nothing to do with it."

Sona chuckled, pleased to see her Bishop so happy. But all good things couldn't last forever, and she nodded to Tsubaki. Her Queen nodded and held her hand out. The papers in Keijutsu's hands glowed before flying out his grip, eliciting a surprised "Hey!" from him as they flew towards her hands. "Research or no research, today is the last day of school before the summer break. The fact that you never made it to class means you were never able to introduce Lilium to anyone else; you need to at least show up to class today," Tsubaki explained.

Lilium nodded. "Which is exactly why I elected not to tell Father how much time had passed; the less time I am at school and have to wear that ridiculously short skirt, the happier I am," she stated, smiling victoriously.

Keijutsu gave his daughter a flat stare. Even now, she was still upset about that? ' _Then again, despite having the body of a sixteen-year old and an intelligence far beyond that, she had still been alive for less than a month. Her emotional growth will probably take time,_ ' he thought, before sighing. "I suppose you're right. Suzuno, while I'm gone, can you organize thse notes by date and have them all taken to my office in the lab?" he requested.

The former Inquisitor nodded. "Consider it done," she replied.

Keijutsu nodded back and stood up, stretching. There were several distinct popping sounds as he did, making him blink. ' _I really did sit here, reading notes for five days straight,_ ' he thought. The fact that he wasn't ever tired after doing so could only be attributed to that increase stamina on account of being a Devil. However…. He quickly sniffed his sleeve and nearly gagged.

"Now that just won't do," he said aloud and held a hand towards and over his chest. There was a small flash of light, a small drain on his reserves, and his clothes and body were abruptly cleaned, as good as is he had just come out of the shower. Ah, the joys of magic. "Alright, I'm ready to go."

Sona grunted and was about to grunt when Lilium spoke up. "Wait a moment! Father, may I accompany you?" she asked.

All three Devils stared at her, with Tsubaki being the one to ask "I thought you abhorred the idea of going to school?"

"Oh, no, I just find the required uniforms to be ridiculous. But I've never actually seen a school or been to one before, so I'd be delighted to come along as on observer. I can even remain unseen if needed," she stated. Then, to prove her point, she clasped her hands together and called "Greater Invisibility!"

Before their eyes, the light around Lilium seemed to bend and warp before settling down, leaving her nowhere to be seen. "Now may I join you?" she asked, her voice emanating from where she had been standing.

Now everyone in attendance was staring. Tsubaki, not knowing Lilium's real age, was fairly impressed with the girl's apparent skill with magic. Sona and Suzuno, who did know, were completely blown away, especially since they knew that Lilium had yet to receive any formal training in magic. Did the information given to her by the Book of Knowledge even extend to include knowledge about magic?

Keijutsu, while similarly shocked, was also wondering one other thing. "Did you just copy that spell from _Dungeons & Dragons_?" he asked.

Although they couldn't see it, Lilium nodded. "Yes, I did. I came across your copy of the Player's Handbook, and thought that some of the spells in there were interesting enough that I would try to replicate them. So far, it's worked out wonderfully," she told him.

That caused the color to slightly drain from Keijutsu's face. A girl with as much intelligence as Lilium's, who possessed very few emotional hang-ups about experimenting with magic, and who had access to a trove of spells as vast as the list from D&D… Oh, dear. What if she figured how to use spells like 'Control Weather' or 'Power Word Kill'?

Putting the potential world-breaking implications of such a thing aside, he looked he presumed Lilium was still standing. "I suppose there's no reason for you to not come. Is there, Kaichou?" he asked.

Sona jumped, broken out of her shock by his words. "Well…" she said, hastily collecting herself. "As long as you maintain the spell and avoid interacting with anyone, I'll allow it. Come along," she said, creating a magic circle to transport them to the Student Council Room.

* * *

' _Exactly why does Father enjoy going here?_ ' Lilium questioned, sitting behind Keijutsu during class. The teacher was giving a lecture about light and its nature ad both a particle and a wave. Something that she, thankfully, was already aware of. Heck, it was the fact that light could behave like a wave that her current state of invisibility was even possible. It seemed that Keijutsu had already read about the subject as well, given the blank stare he had directed at chalkboard.

As established, if Lilium did not consider something to be logically coherent, whether that be an established rule or someone else's opinion, she did consider the object of consideration to be of any value. This was, she surmised, a combination of the fact that the knowledge in her was almost entirely academic in nature along with the value Keijutsu himself paced upon logical arguments. So, if her Father already knew what was being taught in this class, she saw no value in him staying. Or in her staying, for that matter.

With that in mind, Lilium approached the door and-remembering Sona's orders not to interact with anything—waited for someone else to enter or exit. She got her chance once a student requested to go to the restroom, and she slipped out behind them. Deciding to examine another of the classroom, just to see whether or not the class her Father was in was the exception and not the rule—Lilium opened the door to a random room and walked in.

This room, it seemed, was a free period, as there were only a handful on students in here, with most of them clustered and in conversation. One group, it seemed, contained a quartet of girls, one of which was blonde while another had blue hair with a streak of green. Curious, she came closer to the group of girls, careful to maintain her invisibility spell.

"Alright, Asia-san, spill. What kind of plans do you have for summer break?" one of the girl, a brunette, asked.

Asia smiled. "Well, to be honest, I've never had a break this long before, so I'm not sure," she admitted. The blue-haired girl quickly agreed with the sentiment, as did the other two girls, which made Lilium raise an eyebrow. These girls had never experienced summer break either? Was they also artificially made humans?

Whatever they had been about to say was drowned out by one of the male students, who had shouted "Last day of school, you jive-ass suckas!"

Lilium raised her other eyebrow and moved closer. Also with the shouting boy was one with dark hair and glasses, as well as a boy with brown hair and red shirt. Once she was within about ten feet of the boy with the red shirt, however, Lilium went stiff as a board. ' _What in the world… Why is this boy releasing a massive amount of power? He looks like a regular human,_ ' she thought.

Could he be a Devil, like her Father and Sona? Were the other students Devils as well, and she just hadn't gotten close enough to sense them as well? If only she hadn't been ordered to maintain her 'Greater Invisibility' spell. Otherwise, she could use another spell to tell if there were any Devils, Angels, undead, fey or elementals around her, including this boy in front of her.

"And you guys know what that means. Sexy summertime and bathing suits!" the strange boy said, causing Lilum's surprised stare to turn flat. A Devil. Definitely a Devil.

Not interested in hearing any perverted rants or speeches, Lilium quickly made her exit. To her, what she had just heard solidified her opinion that, for her, attending school would be a complete waste of time. Thankfully, this school year was ending before she could tart, so she had some time before then.

Perhaps the reason Keijutsu attended was out of obligation to Sona, the girl who had been helping Father coach her in how to act like a normal human being? Not only was Keijutsu her servant, technically speaking, but the two of them also seemed to be attracted to one another, from what Lilium could see.

It was a natural idea—even though Devils were fundamentally different than humans, both still possess the desire to propagate their species and leave behind a biological legacy, one that would continue on once they died. And it made further sense, at least to Lilium, that the chances of that occurring were highest if those Devils with the highest natural intelligence procreated with each other. So, putting the issue of emotions and romantic attraction aside—something she honestly had no end of trouble contemplating—it made perfect sense to Lilium for Keijutsu and Sona to form a relationship with each other.

Unfortunately, despite the logical sense in this, it seemed that neither of them were yet aware of their attraction for each other. Or least, her father wasn't. Sona, it seemed, was finally starting to realize it, but nothing would come of it unless Keijutsu did as well. And if there was something Lilium Hatsume would not stand for, it was for someone that mattered to her to act on incomplete information.

Therefore, it would fall on her to ensure that Keijutsu became aware of his romantic attraction to Sona Sitri. And likewise, Sona would need to finish becoming aware of her own attraction to Keijutsu Hatsume. Now, the only question that remained was how to go about making that happen. Maybe that woman who Sona asked to help make Lilium a student could help. What was her name—Serafall, was it?

* * *

 **Several hours later…**

Keijutsu hummed as he walked back home from school with Lilium behind him, no longer concealed by her spell. The sun was starting to set, painting everything in brilliant shades of red, yellow and orange. On a whim, he had chosen to take a route through the park on the way back to his apartment. The fountain placed in the center of it gleamed like a hundred jewels and, combined with the tress surrounding the walkway, created a picturesque scene of nature and beauty.

In retrospect, Keijutsu should have expected something to ruin this moment of peace. Ever since becoming a Devil, any extended period of peace he experienced was interrupted by some new enemy, or something to that effect. So, really, he supposed it should have come at no shock when he heard a voice begin speaking up from behind him and Lilium.

"Well, well, looks like I've finally found you, haven't I~?"

Both Keijutsu and Lilium turned around, coming face-to-face with one of the most odd-appearing individuals he had seen since Serafall. It was a tall man of grayed skin and indeterminate age, wearing a predominantly black robe, a gray scarf strapped across his chest, and a long black top hat. His eyes were covered by the bangs of his long gray hair, with a single braid on the right. Most noticeably, there was a scar that ran diagonally across his face from the right side and, presumably, over his left eye.

What considered Keijutsu that most, however, was the amount of power that seemed to be radiating from this stranger. From what he could sense, this man was easily on par with any High Class Devil, possibly even Ultimate Class. But despite this, the energy he was giving off wasn't holy or unholy energy in nature, meaning that he wasn't an Angel, Fallen Angel or Devil. And that, more than anything else, put Keijutsu on edge.

Deciding that diplomacy would be the best approach at the moment, Keijutsu bowed his head briefly. "Good afternoon, sir. My name is Keijutsu Hatsume. May I ask as to why you were looking for me?" he asked.

The stranger grinned and shot forward, almost blurring from the speed at which he moved. Keijutsu tensed in preparation for an attack, but it was apparently unnecessary, as it was Lilium that he stopped in front of.

Grabbing her arm, and showcasing his long black nails in the process, he said "When I snuck back into the Cinematic Archives to take a gander, I thought my eyes were deceiving me. But it's true! A brand-new human life, popping up right out of nowhere, already grown and interacting with the world! If I didn't know that Michael doesn't have this kind of power, I'd think it was a gift from the heavens!"

Lilium frowned and raised an eyebrow at the strange man holding her arm. "Would you be so kind as to release me?" she said frankly.

He did just that, only to grasp her face and turn it to the side, leaning in closer. "Hmm… An articulate response, too. Working pulse… reaction to physical stimuli… A working human life. How extraordinary!" he said, shouting that last part.

Lilium frowned further and extended her other hand at the stranger. With barely a twitch, her Power of Destruction manifested in the form of a burning red-black orb, one which she immediately at the man touching her.

The orb hit him and went right through, disintegrating skin, muscle, blood and everything else that it touched before exiting out his back, leaving a gaping hole behind. That finally got him to let her go, but other than a small frown, he didn't even seemed to be fazed by the attack. "Now, now, was that really necessary?" he asked rhetorically.

Keijutsu chose that time to approach, one hand behind his back and ready to conjure a spell if needed. "I'll ask you again: Why are you looking for me? And moreover, who even are you?" he questioned.

The stranger looked over at him. "Who, me? Oh, you can call me 'Undertaker'. As for why I was looking for you, I was actually trying to find that fascinating lass beside you. You see, I'm rather intrigued by humans and their lives as a whole. You could even call me a researcher, if you want," he explained.

Keijutsu grunted. ' _It's just like Azazel warned. The moment I perform any act of research worth noticing, others would start paying attention and coming out of the woodwork_ ,' he thought. Out loud, he said "I see. An fellow researcher, what is your area of interest?"

At that, Undertaker regained his somewhat-manic grin. "What interests me? Why, nothing less than the fundamental premises of life and death itself!" he exclaimed, sweeping his arm wide. "Humans live such very short lives. Compared to other being, like Gods or Devils, their lives are like a tiny candle, flickering for an instant before sputtering out. But in that instant, they shine like the brightest stars!"

Then, he looked at Keijutsu directly. "What makes them so special like they burn so brightly and briefly? Why does their short lives have to end like they do? And most importantly, what if that end… had a continuation?" he said.

The Artificer blinked. "A continuation? Do you mean a life after death? Or life never ending in the first place?"

"I mean if that life were to not end, but go on forever. Think of the sum of a human's life and its memories like a film reel. A 'Cinematic Record', if you will. Once someone dies, they don't make any new memories as a living person, so their Record ends. But what if someone could take memories and add them onto someone else's Record, even after they were supposed to have died. Wouldn't that person then still be considered living?" Undertaker explained.

Keijutsu was silent, contemplating this. Not only was it an interesting question, but it was also of apparently great importance to Undertaker. If he gave an answer that wasn't liked, it would mean his death. "Somewhat, yes. I understand the idea of a person's life being represented as the sum of all their memories. But memories themselves are subjective, and viewed differently from an outsider than whoever they belong to. So even if someone had memories of a time after they had died, that wouldn't objectively be the same as living after death. Just that the person would 'believe' they were alive."

Undertaker's grin became even wider. "Yes, that's exactly right!" he said, making Keijutsu resist sighing in relief. "Even if I were to create some artificial memories and tack them onto the end of someone's Cinematic Record, that wouldn't be the same as them living after dying. No, what I'm missing from the equation is the _soul_ of the person. Once they've died, that's all gone. So even if the body and memories remain, without the soul, it wouldn't be the same, no matter how lifelike I tried to make them," he said.

' _Tried to make them…_ ' Keijutsu thought, feeling a chill run down his spine. "Wait. You mean you've actually been able to take these 'Cinematic Records' and manipulate them to have contain implanted memories?" he asked.

"But of course! If we can't see access someone's Cinematic Records, how are Grim Reapers like us suppose to pass judgement on the dead?" Undertaker responded.

That was went both Keijutsu and Lilium's eyes went huge. This insane man standing before them.. was a Grim Reaper?! That certainly explained the large amount of power they were sensing, but still. Lilium looked over at Keijutsu, her gaze simply stating ' _We should leave. Now_.' And Keijutsu was very much inclined to agree.

"Well, I'm glad to have answered your questions. Now, if you don't mind, I'll just be go-" he began, creating a teleportation circle large enough for him and Lilium even as he was talking.

Only for Undertaker to move forward at that blindingly fat speed once again, this time grabbing Keijutsu by the shoulders. "Hold on a minute! You're the one that created this lass here, am I right?" he demanded.

Not wanting to find out how well a Grim Reaper was at detecting a lie, Keijutsu simply nodded. "Wonderful! Then I have something I must show you!" Undertaker replied. He reached out to the right with one arm, seeming to grasp at empty air. Then there was a burst of green light, which resolved into a massive scythe. It was longer than even Undertaker was tall, with a miniature skull and ribcage adorning it, wrapped in thorny vines. The spine of the skeleton transitioned into the handle, which ended with a lower backbone, and a long curved silver blade grew out of the black of the skull.

Undertaker gave the scythe a twirl before slamming the butt of it against the ground, causing another burst of green light to surround the both of them. Lilium instinctually covered her eyes to avoid being blinded. The light persisted for several seconds before finally fading, and she was free to look. However, when she did, she saw that both Undertaker and Keijutsu were gone, leaving only a small indentation in the ground to mark that they were ever there.

"Hmm… This is not good," Lilium stated simply. Then, without another moment's hesitation, she resumed walking towards the apartment. Father probably kept a way to contact Sona there, and if he did, she would definitely need to use it.

* * *

When the light from Undertaker's scythe finally faded, Keijutsu looked around to see where he had been taken. From the looks of it, it was a regular funeral home, albeit one from the Victorian era. The walls were and had lines of coffins of differing sizes leaning up against them, the floor was made of dark stone, there was a counter where Undertaker would speak with customers, and a single door that led further into the establishment.

No longer in the mood for games after he had been just kidnapped, Keijutsu plainly said "Alright, where the hell am I now?"

Undertaker grinned. "This is my own personal shop, right in the heart of London. People who's loved ones had died bring them here, and I make them beautiful again!" he said, spreading his arms wide.

Keijutsu raised an eyebrow. London, was it? So, not only was this insane man a Grim Reaper, but he was also one powerful from nearly one side of the planet to another instantaneously. His chances of escape were dwindling by the minute. Despite that, one part of his mind couldn't help but think ' _Actually, wasn't the Black Biblioprincess, the one that oversees the Mystic Archives of Dantalian, supposed to be living somewhere in England?_ ' Maybe, if he was lucky, he could see her while he was here.

Undertaker recaptured his attention, saying "But that's not why I brought you here. Follow me." Walking over to the door that led further in, he procured a golden key with the bow in shape of skull—making Keijutsu internally wince at the cliché—before placing it in the lock. With a slight groan and what sounded like the grinding of ancient gears, the door swung open. Behind it were a set of steps leading beneath the shop. And now that the door was open, Keijutsu could hear what it had blocked before—the sounded of multiple growls, snarls and human groans.

Undertaker quickly began descending the steps, and Keijutsu decided it would be wisest to follow. Despite this, he kept his arms behind his back, ready to call forth a spell at a moment's notice. As they went further down, Keijutsu also became aware of something else—the scent of rotting flesh and large amounts of blood.

At the bottom of the stairs was another door, one which Undertaker again unlocked before holding it open for him. "After you, Mr. Hatsume," he said.

Keijutsu stared at him, unmoving. After a moment, Undertaker's smile faded. "What? You think I went through all the trouble of looking for you so that I could kill you?" he asked. When Keijutsu simply raised an eyebrow, he sighed. "No trust nowadays…" he muttered, before walking in. This time, Keijutsu entered as well.

Inside was a massive stone room, far too large for how far underground they were, making Keijutsu suspect some sort of enchantment. They was a pair of examination tables in the center not unlike what you'd find in a mortuary, with several tables containing various sets of tools and equipment of to side.

One such table had multiple cutting instruments and sets of pliers, presumably for cutting open and extracting pieces from corpses. Another had items you'd find in a chemistry labs, from Bunsen burners to Erlenmeyer flasks and rows upon rows of test tubes. And one, oddly enough, had stacks of books on subjects from medical science to…Confucianism? What the hell?

What drew his most attention, however, were the sets of cages hanging from the ceiling, which were source of all the noises he had been hearing. Looking closer at them, he nearly doubled back in shock. Standing in each cage, wandering around aimlessly, were people. But these people had blindfolds on, one and all, and their bodies were in varying states of decay. One appeared to simply pale, while another had half its face missing and its fingers had been reduced to just bone.

Upon his appearance, however, each of these creatures suddenly perked up, before their groan increases as they reached towards him through the bars of their cages, somehow knowing he was there despite not being able to see.

Looking over at Undertaker, who was standing next to one of the examination tables, he asked "What the hell are these things?!"

Smiling much more softly now, the Grim Reaper said "I call them Bizarre Dolls. They are the end products of my attempts to sustain life after death, what happens when you attach fake memories to the end of someone's Cinematic Record. Aren't they beautiful?"

Keijutsu looked back up at the groaning, decaying undead, and then back at the Undertaker. When he saw that, yes, he was serious, Keijutsu decided to avoid answering the question and risk upsetting his captor. "So why have you brought me here?" he instead asked.

Undertaker sighed. "Like I said, after all my years of working, I was never able to perfectly recreate life for any of my Bizarre Dolls. Despite their beauty, they no longer have real souls, just a body and sets of memories. But you, you've managed to do what only the gods have done before, and that is create a brand new life from scratch!"

' _Technically, it was really just a combination of artificial fertilization and cloning. I didn't make Lilium completely from nothing_ ,' Keijutsu thought, but decided not to say that.

"So, what I need your help for is to take the next step needed to make my Dolls truly alive. I need you to help me figure out how to create a working soul, one that can be implanted inside a body and give it true life," Undertaker told him, his expression now deadly serious.

Keijutsu's eyes widened. "Wait. You… want me… to create a _soul!?_ ' he nearly shouted. "I haven't even made a Sacred Gear yet! A soul is above and beyond anything I've done before. How in the world am I suppose to accomplish that?!"

Undertaker shrugged. "I didn't say the job would be easy. Heck, I've been trying for centuries and never quite made it. But I'm not unreasonable; I'd be quite wiling to compensate you for your work," he said easily.

Despite himself, the Devil in him made Keijutsu pause. "…Compensate me how?" he asked.

"Well, figuring out how to make a soul is the last piece I need to make my Dolls truly alive, which is my life's dream. If you help complete that dream, I'd be perfectly willing to do whatever is necessary to help you achieve any dream of your own. Even if it means joining that…what was it Devil's have? A persona… A personnel… A peer group?" Undertaker muttered, frowning.

Keijutsu's eyes widened. "You mean a peerage?"

"Yes, a peerage, that's it!" Undertaker said, snapping his fingers and smiling. "If you help me figure out how to construct a soul, I'll become a part of your peerage, and place my abilities at your disposal. Sound like a fair trade?" he offered.

Keijutsu was silent, thinking. A Grim Reaper, one who was possibly an par with an Ultimate-Class Devil, offering to be a part of his peerage? Of course, Keijutsu didn't exactly _have_ a peerage yet, on account of being not being a High-Class Devil. But… He looked back up. "Given the amount of time it's taken you alone to get this far with your research, I'm assuming this request has no deadline, correct?"

Undertaker shrugged. "I don't seen the need for one. Being a Grim Reaper means that I am effectively immortal, and you being a Devil means that you'll be alive for at least a few millennia. As long as you agree to help me create a soul, and I know you're actively working on it, I won't worry about the time it takes," he explained.

The Artificer nodded. So, even though he didn't have the build to form a peerage now, he could obtain ranking as a High-Class and obtain a set of Evil Pieces in the meantime. It would probably be better if he tried to do so anyway—while having more power wasn't something Keijutsu was actively concerned over, having more would make things like his research easier. So, while he was essentially being forced to take on a new project, there was no deadline for it, so he could work on other projects, like his Sacred Gear research, at the same time.

That just left one other question. "Would I be able to go back and further between my home office and here as needed in order to work on this?" he asked.

Undertaker was silent for a moment, contemplating the idea. Eventually, he nodded. "I generally keep the doors to my laboratory locked at all times, but I can arrange to have a copy of the key made for you. Just be sure not to let anyone else in here," he warned.

Keijutsu grunted. "Then in that case, as long as you return me back to Kuoh, I'll accept your offer, and work to help you build a working soul," he stated.

That caused the largest smile he had seen yet to appear on Undertaker's face. Once again moving at unnatural speeds. He shot forward and grasped Keijutsu's right hand in both of his own, shaking it vigorously. "Wonderful! I can't begin to tell you how grateful I am for this! With both of us working together, we'll figure this out in less than a decade! You'll see!" he said happily.

Hesitantly, Keijutsu shook Undertaker's hand as well, all the while thinking ' _What have I gotten myself into?_ '

* * *

 **And that ends this chapter. I did say that, as we moved further into the plot, there would be more side-trips and divergences. This is the one such example of that. But now Keijutsu has acquired quite the list of things to do for himself. Become a High-Class Devil, figure out how to make a freaking** _ **soul**_ **, continue his work on Sacred Gears and (although he doesn't know it yet) deal with his daughter's efforts to play matchmaker between him and Sona! Will he be able to make the cut? Future chapters will tell.**

 **Also, one other thing. I have recently found, binge-watched, and fallen in love with another wonderful series called 'Overlord', enough that I am contemplating possibly making starting a fic for that (my enthusiasm for my Fate Stay Night story is also somewhat burning out). But I am unsure which type of two types of characters to write about. So, if you've seen Overlord, or even just want to vote, go over to profile and vote on the poll there. I would really appreciate it.**

 **Please review! If you flame me then Bruce Lee will smash you with his nunchaku. (I'm just kidding… or am I?)**


	21. Chapter 21: To The Underworld!

Author's Note: I do not own High School DxD or anything affiliated with it. The rights to it belong solely to their respective owners.

* * *

 **Well, this is actually pretty embarrassing. I had hoped to have this chapter done and published a month ago. But two things got in the way of that. You want to know what they are? They can be summarized in seven words.**

 **One new job and eighteen credit hours.**

 **Now, the only evenings I don't work are Wednesdays, which are when I have my club, and Sunday, when I have dinner with my family. Add that to all my projects, and everything else, and my workload this semester is above and beyond what I imagined it to be. So that's why this chapter took so long to get out. In recompense, I made this one extra long to help tide you over, since while I hope it won't take this long to bring out the next chapter, I can never be sure. In any case, onto the replies!**

 **Frankieu: You are most welcome. And Sona's reaction to Undertaker is detailed this chapter.**

 **NightBring325: Yeah, when I was trying to determine who would be Keijutsu's Knight, I just so happened to have something about Black Butler: Book of the Atlantic open in another window, and that's when it hit me. And yes, his efforts for finding people to work with has been mostly luck so far.**

 **Kosmi2000, Grinding V2, Son Jubbi and Tohka123: Thank you for your kind words.**

 **Ahsoei: Ironically enough, the Tier Spell system used in Overlord is structured very similar to magic in Dungeons and Dragons, so the mix-up is understandable. Regarding more characters from Black Butler… heh heh heh. And as for Heaven's Fell, that's actually not a bad idea.**

 **A guy1013: Ask and ye shall receive.**

 **Nyanmato: No, Keijutsu has not considered making a magic gun yet, though I do find the idea to be personally intriguing. The spellcasting medium isn't a bad idea either, and I can already see how that would help with larger or more high-cost spells. I really appreciate the ideas.**

 **Striderm8: Lilium's tendency to point out what she sees as illogical will eventually cause some awkwardness in situations she's a part of, rest assured. Likely sometime during the Young Devil's Gathering, I'm thinking.**

 **OeschnerC: Oh yeah, that is a thing, isn't it? Transferring one's soul from body to body in order to be nearly immortal. Hmm…**

 **Rydralle: I think it may have more to do with the fact my story is both OC-centered and the OC is a member of Sona's peerage instead of Rias. Though yes, I think my story does stand out at least a little for its lack of ecchi-ness in the world of a** _ **very**_ **ecchi anime.**

 **Mangahero18: Pretty much, yeah.**

 **Jainthecrib: Sona was impressed more over the fact that the team designed a rocket landed and the payload was (relatively) fine, then that the crowd held off cheering.**

 **Evan:** _ **Ask**_ **and ye shall receive. Though, what do you mean by a hydra Sacred Gear?**

 **And now, without further ado, we begin!**

* * *

Chapter 21: To the Underworld!

Sona Sitri could proudly say that she always kept a tight rein on her emotions. Compared to other Devils of her age group, such as Sairaorg or Rias, she had always been cool, calculating, and efficient. It was necessary. She was not ashamed to say that Rias had more raw power than her, and Sairaorg had trained himself to an extent that even not having his family's fabled Power of Destruction didn't hold him back.

So, whereas her fellow Devils were stronger, she made sure that she was smarter. She would take what abilities she and her peerage had, along with any resource available, to create a plan that had the absolute highest chance of victory. So much so that, by the time her foes figured out what she was planning, it was already too late. And for that to happen, she had to remain calm no matter the situation.

The news brought to her by Lilium served to test that emotional control.

Moving with a stiffness on par with her limbs being made of wood, she reached up and adjusted her glasses. Looking out at the rest of her peerage, who she had called to gather in the Student Council Room, she prepared herself. Standing near the back, she noticed, were Rias and Akeno, who she had asked to attend. Also there were that exorcist Keijutsu was letting live with him, Suzuno Kamazuki, along with Rasiel and the smaller form of Fronea. Even Serafall was present, having immediately come at her sister's call.

"Thank you all for coming here on such short notice," she said, watching as any side-conversation ceased as she was given their full attention. "I have summoned you all because we have an emergency on our hands. The latest member of my peerage, Keijutsu Hatsume, is missing. One of our own, a fellow Devil, who was kidnapped just a few hour ago."

Cue several gaspa from those in attendance, particularly from Suzuno, Serafall, Tomoe and Ruruko, while the others grimaced. "Do we know who's responsible?" Tsubasa asked.

Sona nodded, and waved her hand at Lilium, who was standing next to and behind. "According to Lilium, who was there at the time of the event, the kidnapper was an adult male dressed in black with silver hair. He only referred to himself as 'Undertaker' and… claimed that he was a Grim Reaper."

Serafall's frown deepened. "That's not good. The Grim Reapers are supposed to be under the command of Hades, after all" she began.

Before she could continue, however, Ruruko spoke up. "Wait. Hades? As in, that Greek God of Death? _That_ Hades?!" she asked in fear.

Fronea grunted, raising her head while she sat in Rasiel's arms. "Technically, Thanatos is the God of Death from the Greek pantheon. Hades is also a god, but his sphere of influence only extends to those already in the Realm of the Dead. But yes, _that_ Hades," she stated.

While Ruruko looked positively terrified, Sona cleared her throat. "That's correct. In addition to that and, as my sister mentioned, being the one in charge of the Grim Reapers, Hades is also notoriously hostile towards beings of other mythologies, particularly Devils. So, we have to account for the possibility that this 'Undertaker' acted on his orders."

Rias hummed, holding her chin as she thought. "Even so, what motive could someone like Hades have for kidnapping a member of a Devil's peerage, especially the peerage of a member of a clan like the Sitri? Doing so is almost a declaration of war on its own, but even he doesn't have the forces necessary for that. Especially with the new peace treaty in effect," she thought aloud, before turning to look at Lilium. "Did this Undertaker state what he wanted with Hatsume-san?"

Lilium nodded. "He said that he was fascinated with death being the end of life, and was trying to find a way to extend life after that point, creating a life that never ended. Since Father has already succeeded in combining magic and science to make life in the form of me, he thought he would be the perfect person to help," she explained.

Saji's eyes widened. "Wait. Father…?" he said, trailing off as the realization hit him.

Sona blinked, realizing what had just been revealed, and sighed. "…It's true. We were planning to hold this off until after the summer, when she could be introduced as a new student. But yes, Lilium is Keijutsu's biological daughter, who he created almost a month ago," she stated.

As one, all eyes looked towards Lilium in shock, taking in the similarities between her and the Artificer. Serafall, meanwhile, was wondering two things. One was how much Ajuka, as obsessed with research as he was, would flip his shit when he found out about this. And the others was who Lilium's mother might be, if she even had one.

The one to get over it the fastest was, surprisingly, Saji. "But wait a minute. If this Undertaker guy said that he kidnapped Keijutsu to help him with his research, that could that mean that he wasn't doing it on Hades's orders?" he pointed out.

Sona thought about that. If Undertaker hadn't acted on the orders of Hades, then that meant he was doing it of his own volition. And if the Grim Reaper was as smart as he implied, then he knew that kidnapping one of her servants could lead to a war, especially with her sister being the Satan in charge of Foreign Affairs. So for him to do something his master would have not ordered him to, and not care for the consequences… She turned to her sister. "Is it possible for a Grim Reaper to turn rogue, similar to a Stray Devil?"

Serafall hummed. After a moment, she said "I don't think I've heard of such a thing happening… but I can't see why it wouldn't be impossible." Then she smiled. "Luckily, I know a way that we can find out! We just have to ask!"

Rias's eyes widened. "Hold on, a confrontation with Hades is exactly what we want to avoid!" she called.

"Oh, no, no, not Hades. We just have to ask Orcus!" she replied cheerfully.

While Sona's, Rasiel's and Fronea's eyes widened in comprehension, the others looked confused. "I'm afraid I don't understand," Suzuno said.

"Well, you see, although Hades has ultimate authority over the actions of the Grim Reapers, he doesn't actually spend his time actively managing them—he has enough time overseeing the rest of the Realm of the Dead as it is. So they're mostly run by themselves, and not all of them feel the same way Hades does about other mythologies. In fact, one of them, named Orcus, doesn't possess any hate towards Devils at all!" Serafall explained.

Akeno's eyes widened. "And since he has no ill feeling towards us, if we could get an audience with this Orcus, he'd be willing to tell us if a Grim Reaper can turn rogue or not, and if Undertaker is one. He might even have information on where to find him," she finished.

Serafall nodded, causing Sona to smile. "Then we know what to do. How do go about setting up such a meeting?" she asked.

The Satan's smile grew even wider, pleased as punch at making her adorable little sister happy. "I can actually arrange the meeting myself, being in charge of Foreign Affairs and whatnot. I'll probably have it ready by the time you get to Sitri estate in the Underworld," she declared, before conjuring a magic circle. "In fact, I'll get started on that now. Toodles!" she said, and vanished.

Ignoring the small sweatdrop that appeared at her sister's enthusiastic personality, she looked over at the rest of them. "Alright, we have a plan. Everyone, return back home and resume packing your things for our summer trip to the Underworld. Once there, we'll meet with Orcus and learn what we can about Keijutsu's kidnapper. The sooner we can find him, the sooner we can find Keijutsu," she finished.

The rest of her peerage nodded, getting up to leave while Rasiel used a magic circle to take herself, Suzuno, Fronea and Lilium back to Keijutsu's apartment. Rias conjured her own magic circle, but before she left, she looked over at Sona. "I can't begin to imagine how worried you are right now, Sona. Just remember, if you need any help, I'll be there," she promised.

Smiling at her friend/childhood rival, Sona said "Thank you for that Rias. I mean it."

The redhead nodded and left alongside Akeno. That left just Sona in the room, who also immediately slouched in her seat.

When had her life begun turning so stressful? And how was Keijutsu holding up now?

* * *

Well, that decided it. Making a soul was even harder than he thought it would be.

Of course, Keijutsu had known that accepting Undertaker's 'request' and following through on it would probably be the hardest task he would have accomplished yet. But he couldn't exactly say 'no' to the one who kidnapped him, could he? Even so, he had underestimated just how out of his depth he was when it came to researching how to recreate something like the soul.

The biggest problem was that he didn't even know any real, concrete information about the soul's nature. Was it some mass of energy, and if so, what kind? Was it only another word for consciousness, or rather an emergent property from it? Was the soul connected to the body in some way, and if so, where was the connection? The heart? The brain? Every cell in the body at once? And how did the ability to use magic figure into it?

He barely had any clue where to even start looking. He had begun brainstorming—what, four or five hours ago?—and he still had no clue. It was baffling.

At least Undertaker had chosen to leave his scythe behind for Keijutsu to examine while he manned the shop upstairs. Apparently, on top of being an actual undertaker, the Grim Reaper was also an information broker for those who could make him laugh. Which was harder than one might think, given the number of jokes he'd heard over the centuries.

Looking at the almost cliché weapon laid out on the wooden table to the side, Keijutsu leaned back in his chair. ' _Okay, so the Grim Reapers use these scythes on the dying in order to access their Cinematic Records, a collection of all their memories and experiences in life, even the ones they had forgotten,_ ' he thought. Reaching forward, Keijutsu created a spectral hand that then grasped the scythe, moving it for him. Undertaker hadn't said that anything bad would happen if Keijutsu touched the scythe, but he'd rather not find out the hard way.

Moving it over towards one of the Bizarre Dolls, which he had strapped down an examination table, Keijutsu manipulated the spectral hand to swing the scythe and cut across the Doll's stomach. The scythe passed through like a knife through warm butter, and the Bizarre Doll hissed in anger. But rather than a spray of blade and gore, what emerged from it was a mass of several strips of film, the kind that one would find for a vintage movie reel.

The film strips showed that, from what Keijutsu could see, this person had been a simple construction worker, whose job had been to repair roads, curbs and street gutters, as well as de-icing them during the winter. He had also been a single father, who shared custody of their only child with his ex-wife, and doted on said child, a girl, whenever he had the chance. Then Records vanished, and Keijutsu didn't have the chance to pry into this Doll's former life any further.

Keijutsu moved the scythe back and examined the Bizarre Doll, ignoring its thrashing as it mindlessly tried to escape its bindings. ' _No wound. So the scythe itself doesn't actually inflict any physical injuries. But it must be interacting with something in order to force the Cinematic Records to manifest. Could the thing it interacts with be the soul, or what of one this thing has left?_ '

According to Undertaker, the Bizarre Dolls were human bodies that no longer had souls, but still had memories, thanks to the Grim Reaper tacking fake memories onto their Records past the point where they were no longer alive. But that would imply that souls and memories were two separate entities that could exist independently of one another. Was it actually the opposite, and memories were actually part of the soul?

If so, then what a Grim Reaper's scythe actually did was cut away the memories from the rest of the soul, forcing them to manifest as Cinematic Records, which the Grim Reaper could then examine to determine what kind of life that person led. Then, after the examination, they would recombine the Records with the rest of soul, and allow it to pass on. Or perhaps, if the soul was to be reincarnated, the memories would be kept separated and the rest of it was what was reincarnated?

Keijutsu grunted. It was time like this when he could use a second opinion, or at least someone for him to bounce ideas off of. ' _Fronea would be a good choice. She's definitely smart enough to discuss this with, and being a sphinx means that she'll have a different outlook on it than I_ ,' he thought. Actually, it would probably be a good idea to call for her anyway, in case his sudden disappearance worried anyone.

With that in mind, he reached forward and focused, creating the magic circle on the ground needed for summoning familiars. In a matter of seconds, there was a flash of light, and the miniature form of Fronea appeared before him.

Her eyes instantly went wide, seeing him standing there. "Kei! You're alright!" she called, bounding over to him.

He nodded. "Indeed I am," he replied smiling.

As she ran closer, the female sphinx began growing in size, returning to her normal massive form. Then, making sure not to hit him with her claws, she raised up a single paw and smacked her master over the top of his head.

"Ow! Hey!" he shouted, rubbing the spot where she hit him. Even without her claws, the strength in those paws was nothing to joke about. "What was that for?!"

"For not calling me sooner, you idiot! It's been hours since you vanished, and some of us are besides themselves with worry. Sona has already called in her whole peerage, and Serafall's even going about setting up a meeting with one of the other Grim Reapers to get more information on your kidnapper," she said, glaring at him.

Rather than be chastened, however, Keijutsu's smile only grew. "Oh? And were you among those who were worried?" he asked teasingly.

Sniffing haughtily, Fronea responded "Of course, I was. I'm your familiar, after all, so what exactly am I supposed to do if you were to up and die? Go back to the forest and wait until some other Devil shows up who's both insane enough to enter my den and smart enough to solve one of my riddles? No, thank you."

Chuckling, the Artificer decided to refrain and moved back to the matter at hand. "I see. I'm sorry to have worried you and other others, but as you can see, I'm alive and well. Not only that, but I've made a deal with Undertaker to secure my freedom to leave as I please," he explained.

She stared at him for a moment, raising an eyebrow. "Really? And what kind of deal is that?" she questioned.

Clearing his throat in slight embarrassment, he said "Oh, nothing special. I just have to… well… help him figure out how to make a soul."

…

…

"Excuse me?" Fronea said, reaching up with a hind leg to brush at some of the fur near her ears. "I don't think I quite heard you right. Could you repeat it, please?"

"I said, I agreed to help Undertaker figure out to make a soul. It's the only part left in his quest to create a life after death that he hasn't figure out," Keijutsu explained.

The sphinx continued to stare at him. "You're serious? You've actually agreed to help research the _soul_ , something that philosophers, magicians and many others have been trying to figure out since, oh I don't know, at least the time of Plato? Are you insane?!" she said, her voice rising in volume until she was nearly yelling at the end.

Keijutsu nodded. "It's going to be difficult, I know, and yes, I'm aware that others have been trying to do at least somewhat the same thing I am for over two thousand years now. But then again, they never had me," he said, grinning.

Fronea's stare turned deadpan. "Are you aware of how egotistical that statement just now was?" she stated.

He shrugged. "You never know. I may just figure out how to do it, I may not. But I have agreed to help, and in return, Undertaker has agreed to let me come and go from here whenever I want, with no fixed deadline for when I need to make progress. He even agreed to join my peerage once I become a High-Class Devil, should I succeed," he explained.

There was another moment of silence, before she sighed heavily. "Well, at least I know you're safe, relatively speaking. Do you want me to report this back to Sona?" she asked.

"It would probably be best if you did. But even if you do, tell her I said to go ahead with meeting this other Reaper. Who knows, he might tell us something about Undertaker that we don't know. And despite our agreement, I'll stay here and continue to work until I manage to make at least some progress, just so he doesn't think I'm trying to go back on our 'deal'," he told her.

Sighing again, Fronea nodded, and slapped her tail against the floor. Another magic circle appeared around her, and she said "Just take care not to get yourself killed. I'm actually fond of having you for a master, and I know Sona would be heartbroken if you died," she said.

Keijutsu blinked. "Wait. Heartbroken? What do you mean Sona would-?" he started, but then his familiar activated the circle and vanished in a burst of light. Leaving him sitting there, contemplating what he just heard.

* * *

 **Two days later…**

It was with no small amount of relief that Sona and her peerage arrived at the Sitri estate. Fronea's message from Keijutsu had done much to soothe their worries over his safety, but they still needed to know more about just who pretty much forced Keijutsu to help him. Each member of the student council got on the train in a neat, orderly fashion, with Sona in front and Saji brining up the rear. Lilium and Rasiel were also on board, having been invited to come for the summer. Suzuno, uncomfortable with the idea of traveling to the Underworld, had politely declined.

Having become a Devil after the summer of last year, this was Saji's first look at the Underworld, and the territory owned by the Sitri family in particular. What he saw left him in awe.

Apparently, the Gremory were not the only clan to possess incredible amounts of land, even if the exact amount owned by the House of Sitri wasn't exactly the same. To put into perspective, while the size of the Gremory territory was about equal to Japan's main island Honshu, the Sitri lands were approximate to that of Hokkaido. But the different in size was then more than made up for in the beauty of the landscapes.

Like something pulled from a fantasy novel, the Sitri territory was covered in vast swaths of forests and lakes. Each patch of green was vibrant and almost glowing with life, while the water appeared like sapphire. Even from their place on the flying train, everyone aboard could see that the lands were teeming with not just plant life, but animal life as well, while numerous cities dotted the landscape.

"Wow…" Ruruko said, stars in her eyes as she admired the scenery.

Sona smirked, looking up from her book. "The House of Sitri has always been proud of the richness of its lands, so much so that we have the largest number of natural reserves among any High-Class Devils. We also have one of the best medical facilities in the Underworld, known as the Serafall Memorial Hospital," she told them.

Saji looked back at her. "And your family owns all of this?!" he said, somewhere between awed and flabbergasted. Despite herself, Sona could help but straighten in her seat, smiling with pride over her family.

The rest of the trip consisted of Sona, with Tsubaki as well, explaining the various features of the Sitri territory. The flying train deposited them at the station, wherefrom they were able to make their way to Sitri family manor. During the last few minutes of the trip, the family manor finally came within sight. Not too surprisingly, the manor was inhumanely large, enough to house an entire city within its walls and probably have room to spare.

The architecture was distinctly Gothic in nature, with many of the windows being tall, thin and made of stained class. The walkway to the front door was paved with white limestone of the highest quality, with two fountains on either side releasing crystal-clear water into tiny canals that then spider-webbed into a large front garden. Atop the manor was a single golden spire that ended with the Sitri crest made of blue steel.

But the biggest surprise came in the form of the front doors. Made from lacquered wood of the highest quality, they depicted a being that had the body of a human man wearing tattered leather armor, wearing a set of beads and a smile that somehow reeked of cunning and manipulation. Which was all the more disturbing when you accounted for the fact that the man's head was that of a leopard, while a pair of griffin wings sprouted from his back and each outstretched hand was a large paw.

Even Momo, calm as she usually was, was shaken by the image. "Sona-kaichou, who is this?" she asked hesitantly.

Glancing at the image embossed on her family's front door, she explained "That is Cupidatem Sitri, the founder and first member of the Sitri House. He was said to have reign over sixty legions of Devils, and could enchant men and women to fall in love with each other whenever he wished. He was also supposedly renowned for his cunning and skill at outwitting his foes, something our family has always tried to emulate."

Despite it being only a carving—albeit one that towered over him due to the size of the doors—Saji couldn't help but gulp. It felt almost like those feline eyes were watching him, tracking his every move even though the eyes themselves weren't moving. ' _If this guy was the one that founded Kaichou's family, so wonder she's so good at predicting others_ ,' he thought.

Then the front doors parted, revealing not a maid or servant as one might expect, but Serafall. Though, she was not clad in her usual magical girl outfit, but a blue formal dress similar to the one she wore the Faction Summit. That didn't stop her expression from lighting up like a Christmas tree the moment she caught sight of her sister.

"So-tan!" she called, launching herself forward at blinding speeds. As much as Sona had expected this kind of reaction, she was still miles away from outpacing Serafall, and thus she had barely any time to blink before she was enveloped in her older siblings embrace, her faced stuffed between Serafall's bountiful breasts.

"I'm so happy to see you! We didn't spend nearly enough time together when I visited your school, and then the next time I heard from you, it was to set up a meeting with a Grim Reaper. And here I though I could finally cash in on the girls' night out you promised me!" she cried out dramatically. "But now that summer's come and you're spending it here, you and I can finally have some quality bonding time!"

And thus one of the highest-ranking Devils in the Underworld went on, talking about all the things they would do together even as she spun around, keeping Sona's face smothered by her chest. Seeing such an event was enough to cause Tomoe and Ruruko to blush, feeling somewhat inadequate by comparison. The rest of the Student Council, being either well-endowed themselves or—in both Saji and Tsubasa's case—completely unworried about having a large bust, were unaffected.

As for Sona herself? She was becoming increasingly dizzy due to both being spun around and having her ability to breathe hampered significantly by her current position. As the moment dragged on and it became clear the Serafall had no intention of releasing her on her own initiative, she began struggling and trying to break her sister's grip.

Her efforts might as well have been for naught, compared the strength of a being who was both an Ultimate-Class Devil and a complete siscon. Even after Serafall stopped spinning and just stood there, holding her close and simply savoring the moment, she couldn't break free. Eventually, with no other option in sight, Sona used a magic circle and teleported herself out of her sister's arms, reappearing in front of her peerage.

Trying to regain some semblance of control over the situation, Sona took off her glasses and pulled out a cloth to begin wiping the lenses. The image was ruined by how frazzled her hair had become during her short ride, but no one saw fit to tell her that. In any case, Sona cleared her throat and said "We'll have to postpone that promise for another time, Onee-sama. Were you able to set up the meeting that I requested?"

At that, Serafall lost some of her cheer. "Well… not exactly. I tried setting up a meeting with Orcus, but it turns out that he was already out on an assignment from Hades. All of the higher-ranked Grim Reapers weren't available actually; with the global human death rate being what it is, they're apparently spread really thin trying to keep up," she told them. Then she perked up. "Buuuut… Once I 'let it slip' that we were dealing with a rogue member of their group, they were able to set up a meeting with two of their other members. They're waiting in the study now."

Sona nodded, glad to be getting back to the matter at hand. "Very well. Lead the way, then," she said, before turning to look at the rest of them. "Except for Tsubaki, the rest of you get settled in. In you need to, ask a maid or butler to assist."

The rest of the Student Council, plus Rasiel and Lilium, obeyed without question, though Saji plainly looked as though he'd rather be with her than away from the meeting. Still, when the others began filing inside, he went with them. The trio of Sona, Serfall and Tsubaki, however, made their way towards the western section of the manor, where a room for speaking with arriving guests had been set up years ago by Sona's father.

The interior of the room sported a pair of ornate yet comfortable couches in blue, in between which was a table for tea. Near the back was simple wooden desk, in turn flanked by bookcases. Off to the side was a permanently engraved magic circle, enabling guests to teleport in and out without issue. Though, as with any such circle, wards and seals had been set up so that anyone who entered the manor via that circle could only exit that room with permission from a member of the Sitri house.

Sitting on one of the couches was their two guests, who stood and faced them once Serafall opened the door. Taking a look at them, Sona was taken aback by how both of the people before her could be Grim Reapers.

One of them looked like a young girl with pale skin and long, dark blue hair that reached her hips and was held in a braid by a purple skull. Her eyes were golden and partly closed, as if she was about to fall asleep any moment. She was wearing a light blue dress and a white cap with an emerald at the tip, along with black gloves with golden neon lines that reached her elbows. Though her eyes were sleepy, the rest of her expression seemed cheerful and upbeat.

The other Reaper, by contrast, looked less like a gatherer of souls and more like a stereotypical bureaucrat. They were a tall man with short dark brown hair that looked to be combed with utmost care. He wore rectangular glasses over chartreuse, phosphorescent eyes, and wore an immaculate black suit with a white undershirt, black tie, and a pair of black gloves. While the girl's expression was positive, this man's face was stern and almost completely emotionless.

Once all three of them entered, the stern-looking Reaper bowed at the waist, even his posture honed to precision. "It would seem that everyone who is part of this meeting has arrived. In that case, let us begin with introductions before moving onto the business at hand," he said calmly. Straightening, he said "My name is William T. Spears, senior member of the Management Division of the Grim Reaper Dispatch. The young woman with me is Bennia, junior member of the Retrieval Division."

Serafall bowed in return, shifting with practiced ease into her role as the Satan of Foreign Affairs. "It's a pleasure you make your acquaintance, Spears-san and Bennia-san. My name is Serafall Leviathan, of the Four Satans. With me is my sister, Sona of House Sitri and heiress to the house, and her Queen, Tsubaki Shinra."

Bennia nodded, smiling. "We know that you actually wanted to meet up with my Dad, and I'm sorry about that. But over the last few centuries, as the number of humans in the world has been increasing, so has rate at which they've been dying. Meanwhile, the number of Grim Reapers had remained fairly the same over that time, so the whole organization is really understaffed right now," she said.

Sona blinked, picking up on the implications of that first line even as she processed the rest. "Wait, your father? You mean that you are Orcus's daughter?" she asked.

Bennia nodded. "Yup, that's right! In fact, I was only born last century when Dad met with a Human woman and-" she began, before William cleared his throat.

"You can discuss the circumstances of your birth with these… Devils… at a later time, Bennia. Right now, we have something else to discuss," he reminded her.

Sona nodded, moving to sit behind the desk while Tsubaki and Serafall stood on either side of her. That act alone—that Serfall was silently and willingly ceding control of the meeting to her sister, despite being the one to set it up in the first place—almost caused the prim Grim Reaper to tense up. Almost, but not quite.

Despite this, his previous hesitance at the word Devil caused Sona's eyes narrowed. ' _So it seems that he's one of the Reapers that isn't fond of Devils either. Just my luck, too. Well, at least the other one seems polite_ ,' she thought, before clearing her throat. "Yes, I was hoping we could move onto that subject. To put it bluntly, one of my servants was recently kidnapped by a man claiming to be Grim Reaper. I was hoping you would be able to shed some light on the subject."

Both William and Bennia frowned, with the latter saying "That's a little weird. I know our boss, Hades, doesn't really like Devils—or Fallen Angels, for that matter—but I don't think he's put out an order to have one kidnapped."

William nodded in agreement. "Quite so. The Grim Reaper Dispatch has enough on our plate trying to keep up the influx of souls to be judged and reaped. Going out of our way to find a live Devil and hold them in captivity would only cause us more problems while solving none. And as part of the Management Division, I can say with certainty that no Reaper has been recently dispatched with such an assignment," he explained.

Sona hummed, considering their words. While they could be lying to save face now that they had been caught red-handed, Sona was willing to give them the benefit of the doubt, at least for now. "I suspected as much, which has led us to suspect it is actually a rogue or former member of your organization that is responsible. Perhaps you've heard of him? He seems to enjoy referring to himself as 'Undertaker'," she stated.

That time, there was no hiding how William tensed at that statement, his eyes widening in alarm even as Bennia blinked in confusion. "Uh… Undertaker? No, I don't think I've heard of anyone like that," she said, before looking over at her comrade. "What about you, Will?"

All eyes turned to him, and William sighed in both irritation and what seemed like exhaustion. "Unfortunately, yes, that is someone I'm all too familiar with," he said, before sitting back down. "Undertaker is a former member of the Grim Reaper Dispatch. Or perhaps the better phrase would be a 'deserter'," he said.

The others raised eyebrows but said nothing, letting him continue. "Undertaker was one of the oldest members of the our organization, and one of the best Grim Reapers in the entire Retrieval Division. He reaped souls with a calm, indifferent precision for several centuries, never showing any particular joy in his work, but no displeasure either."

"But eventually, reports from with those assigned to work with him began stating that he was becoming more bored than indifferent. Eventually, he grew tired of reaping altogether and tried twice to leave the Dispatch. The first time, he destroyed almost half of the entire headquarters in the process, and successfully escaped when he tried again twenty years later, taking his Death Scythe with him."

Sona barely fought back a grimace at that. A being strong enough to destroy half of the Grim Reapers' headquarters, likely fighting off dozens of other Reapers in the process? Almost dreading asking, she asked "Just how strong is Undertaker?"

William was silent for a moment, thinking. Eventually, he said "While comparing the strength of a Grim Reaper to that of a Devil is not always easy, if I had to put it in terms you would understand, he would be Ultimate-Class, without a doubt."

' _An Ultimate-Class. Kei's made a deal with an Ultimate-Class being to help create a soul. Could this get any worse?_ ' she thought. Out loud, she asked "Does Undertaker still operate in Britain?"

"Yes, he does. He runs a parlor in London, where he works as an actual undertaker. After an incident in the 1800's he was part of involving a cruise ship and a horde of undead, the Dispatch gave up trying to apprehend him. Nowadays, we just let him be and live his life, and he doesn't interfere with out work," William explained.

Serafall 's expression hardened. "I see. In that case, I take it the Grim Reaper Dispatch wouldn't be willing to help us rescue my sister's servant?" she questioned. Not that there was any need for such a rescue, they now knew, but it was a test to see what their response would be.

Bennia frowned. "Well, I know I'd like to help but-" she started, before Will cut her off again. "But as you know, we Grim Reapers are stretched thin right now with out normal duties as it is. Sending a handful of our own to attempt a rescue mission that would be doomed to failure is out of the question."

Now it was Sona that was silent, trying to swallow her anger at the casual dismissal of Keijutsu's fate. Only the knowledge that Undertaker would allow him to come and go from his lab kept that anger in check. "I… understand. In that case, I thank you for your time. The information you've given us should come in very helpful," she said.

William nodded and stood back up, an uncomfortable-looking Bennia at his side. "You are most welcome, Miss Sitri. Know that while neither our leader or many of the Grim Reapers have any love for Devils, myself included, the issue of Undertaker has always been a thorn in the side of the Dispatch that we've never been able to remove. I wish you luck your endeavors."

Then he reached his hand forward and seemed to grasp at air, before his own Death Scythe appeared in a small flash of light. Despite the name, it actually looked nothing like a real scythe. Instead it was a pruner, a gardening tool consisting of a long metal rod with a clipper on one end and a handle fixed halfway along the rod. William gave the three of them a simple nod in farewell before he tapped it against the ground, creating a larger flash that, when it faded, showed that both Reapers were gone.

There was a moment of silence after they left, which was eventually broken by Sona sighing and leaning forward. "What a mess," she simply stated, burying her face in her hands.

Tsubaki nodded. "Yes. Even though Keijutsu was able to secure a deal for his release, if he doesn't manage to create a soul, he'll have angered a being with strength on the level of Grayfia Lucifuge, another Ultimate-Class being," she remarked.

Serafall looked contemplative, before her expression became determined. "Alright, that settles it!" she said, moving in front of them. "Although Keijutsu was able to talk his way out this time, there's no telling when someone might try to kidnap one of you again, and how strong they'll be when they try. So, the only solution is for all of you to become strong enough that anyone who does try is going to have their work cut off for them!" she declared.

Sona looked up at her. "I assume that means we'll be performing some sort of training regiment. What do you have in mind?" she asked.

Serafall rubbed the back of her head. "Well, I don't have anything right now, but I know someone who owes me a favor. I'll be back soon!" she said, before creating her own magic circle and leaving.

* * *

 **The next day…**

Keijutsu hummed as he beheld the small animal before him. It was a regular brown rat, held in place by a simple paralysis spell. Nothing that would work on a human or magical creature, but it had its uses. Right now, he was trying to find a way that he could examine this rat's soul, hopefully without killing it, so that he could get an idea as to how a basic soul might function before he moved on to human ones.

Unfortunately, none of the methods he knew seemed to be doing the job of detecting this rat's soul. Scanning its brain didn't seemed to be doing the job, the rat was releasing no magical aura—and so, spells meant for detecting magic were rendered moot—even releasing a pulse of his own magic energy like a sonar wasn't doing any good. It was irritating.

"Why are you being so stubborn about this?" he muttered to himself. Sitting back in his chair, he tried to think of what else he could try. Maybe placing the rat in close proximity to the Death Scythe to see if there was a reaction? He doubted there would be. Should he gave say 'screw it' and tried to remove its soul with the scythe after all? And if he did, how would keep it contained instead of just dispersing?

…

Wait a minute.

Keijutsu looked down at the paralyzed rat. What if he was going about this the wrong way? What if the soul wasn't concentrated in a single place, like the head or the heart, but was instead diffused throughout the body, a presence that could only be detected while trying to examine the being as a whole? If so, how would he go about detecting it? All of the full-body analysis methods he knew were mostly related to detecting magic, and if he was right, the soul was made of a different type of energy altogether.

' _Perhaps I could make a new spell, one that would detect the specific type of energy that a soul is made from? No, I'd still need to know the nature of that energy to do that_ ,' he thought. Then he blinked. ' _However, I do have a sort of general-detection spell I created a while back that would identify all forms of energy in a localized area. Granted, if I don't know the nature of what I'm looking for, it might get lost in the background, but it's worth a shot._ '

With that in mine, he reached forward and placed both hands in the air over the rat. Concentrating, a small blue magic circle appeared in both hands, before the rat became enveloped in a transparent blue dome about 30 centimeters in diameter. Were the paralysis spell on it not still active, he had no doubt it would have run away long before now. But it couldn't, and thus Keijutsu was free to continue examining it.

As the spell stabilized, information began rushing through him at a blistering pace. ' _Alright, I can immediately discard the magnetic field I'm getting from the earth itself. Then there's the heat radiation from both my body and the rat's. But I'm picking up two other sources… no, those are the Earth's gravitational field and the usual shower of neutrinos. I need to find something… something…_

...

 _'There!'_

Eyes widening, Keijutsu focused on that sensation he felt. Some slight energy source, spread out over… yes! It was diffused throughout the rat's entire body, with a slight concentration in the region of its brain. It wasn't electromagnetic, nuclear or gravitational in nature. In fact, it felt almost akin to the sensation he felt when channeling a large amount of magic, but different enough for him to recognize it as something else.

A stray thought came to him. ' _Not sure if this is lends any credence to that idea I had of the soul being the source of magic. Something to look at later_ ,' he thought. Refocusing, he could see that this energy source, while indeed in the same location as the rat's body, seemed to be moving about even as the rat itself was immobile. So the soul could act independent of the body, was it?

At that moment, the door to the lab opened and Undertaker walked in, wearing his trademark disturbing grin. Looking at the scene before him, he said "I see that you've been busy. Any progress so far?"

Keijutsu smiled and nodded, releasing both the detection and paralysis spells. As expected, the moment the rat found it was able to move, it sprung to its feet and ran off the table, scurrying towards the crack in the wall Keijutsu had originally found it in and escaping. Watching it go, he said "I found a way to detect the presence of what I'm fairly certain is the soul, which means that I now can start examining its properties. And if I can find a way to gather enough of the energy that composes it, along with enough data, I can hopefully start designing the recreation process."

Beneath his bangs, Undertaker's eyes widened. Just a few days, and this Devil had already found a way to detect and examine the soul? Even for one such as himself, the closest he could do to that was examining the Cinematic Records and, as he had proven, tampering with them. But despite being the ones charged with judging souls, Grim Reapers couldn't actual take apart a soul and examine its components. If he could, Undertaker would have figured out how to make one centuries ago.

But now? Now he could see that he made the right choice in 'recruiting' Keijutsu to help him. Given enough time, he could see that the white-haired Artificer would help him accomplish his immortal life's dream. And what was something as small as becoming a servant, in exchange for that?

* * *

While Keijutsu was making headway on his own project, the rest of Sona's peerage, along with Sona herself, were waiting in front of the Sitri manor. Standing before them was Serafall, who was back in her magical girl outfit and bouncing on her heels. Together, they were all waiting for this mysterious individual that Serafall claimed would help them with training, and who should be arriving any moment.

When Sona had tried asking who, she just winked and said that she had taken a page out of Azazel's book. Sona wasn't quite sure what she meant by that, but was willing to wait to find out.

It was as they waited, however, that they all became aware of a sound, slowly increasing in volume. It sounded almost like rushing wind, something moving through the air at high speed. And then, inexplicable, the land around them began to darkness, as if something were blotting out of the sun. Curious, Saji looked up at the sky to see if it was just a passing cloud.

It wasn't. There, moving through the sky like water, was a massive, serpentine shape. One that was growing larger and larger with each passing moment… as if flew straight towards them.

Saji's eyes widened, and he had just enough time to yell "Oh sh-!" before it suddenly rocketed down, leaving behind a sonic boom in its wake as flew straight down. At the last possible instant before it struck the ground face-first, the massive creature drew up and landed with a resounding impact, setting the ground to quake and dust to rise into the air.

The land shook hard enough that almost everyone, with the exception of Serafall, Tsubasa and Tsubaki, had to take a step back to avoid falling over. All eyes looked towards the cause of the event, that massive serpent-like creature that was even now writing within the dust cloud. Then, with an earsplitting roar, the cloud parted, giving them their first view of the creature.

In a way, it reminded them of the mythological leviathan, the great sea monster whose very presence conjured storms and capsized ships. Indeed, this creature's skin was in light blue in color all along its belly, while darker scales the color of cobalt covered its back, sides and face. Extending from the sides of its head was a pair of green fins while a spiral brown horn protruded from its forehead. To cap it off, the end of its tail took the form of a jagged, three-pronged brown trident.

It took only a moment for many of them to realize what this creature was, though it was Reya who said it aloud.

"A dragon…"

The massive blue dragon, who had to have been over a hundred meters in length, looked down at all of them its slit blue eyes. Then, after a long moment of tense silence, it turned its head towards Serfall.

" **Are these the ones you asked me to train, Leviathan-san?** " it asked, its voice surprisingly female.

Undaunted by the massive difference in size between herself and the dragon before her, Serafall nodded. "Yup, my precious little sister and her peerage, ready to learn!" she declared, before blinking. "Though, it might help the introductions if you changed into your other form. That way we can all talk at eye level."

Another moment of silence, and then the dragon sighed. " **Very well** ," she said, before her form was abruptly enveloped in an aquamarine light. Her body began to rapidly decrease in size, as well as change into a form similar to that of a human.

When the light faded, standing before them was an adult woman with black hair dyed purple at the ends and a curvaceous figure. Even in this form, she retained the brown horn and blue eyes, while a large blue and turquoise tail sprouted from somewhere around the back of her waist. She was clad in a purple kimono with pink piping and a dark blue sash over a black leotard, as well as a tan scarf and wooden sandals. Bandages were wrapped around her legs and her sandals, and in her left hand she held a brown trident in a similar shape to how her tail had been.

Standing tall, the dragon in human form bowed once, looking at all of them. "It's a pleasure to meet you all. My name is Elma, and I look forward to working with all of you," she declared.

* * *

 **And there we go. One cameo by another character from** _ **Black Butler**_ **, and we have my favorite character from** _ **Miss Kobayashi's Dragon Maid**_ **training Sona and other others! (Honestly, when I was trying to think of which dragon to train them, I just couldn't resist.) And we got to see Keijutsu make some headway with his soul research (which, despite how difficult it seems, I don't imagine will take anywhere near as long as making Lilium did). So, what awaits Sona and the rest of the student council now? We'll just have to find out!**

 **Please review! If you flame me then Bruce Lee will smash you with his nunchaku. (I'm just kidding… or am I?)**


	22. Chapter 22: Training

Author's Note: I do not own High School DxD or anything affiliated with it. The rights to it belong solely to their respective owners.

* * *

 **Hi. So, this chapter is a lot shorter than I intended (by about 1000 words or so,) but I didn't feel like it was fair to keep you all from being able to read what I have done so far just because I couldn't think of a way to make it longer. Nonetheless, I hope you enjoy what I managed to get done. But first, the replies!**

 **Frankieu: I will say now that *Spoiler Alert* obtaining a deeper understanding of the soul and how to make it with help him become a better user of magic. How that occurs will be revealed in due time.**

 **Ahsoei: He is out for the start of training, yes, but he will later join them.**

 **Nyantao: I have not heard of this series, no. I'll definitely have to give it a try when I have the chance.**

 **NightBringer325: You're right in that there isn't much Elma could teach him besides helping with increased stamina or larger pool of magic. Though your suggestion of live dragon samples does sound** _ **very**_ **intriguing.**

 **OechsnerC: Thank you for your kind words.**

 **SkullWolfSteam: Yes, this is the exact same Undertaker from the** _ **Black Butler**_ **series. He is one of my favorites characters in there, and I though that him being a mad researcher himself meant that he would connect well with Keijutsu.**

 **Evan: I will admit the idea of Keijutsu making an artificial/mechanical dragon does sound cool. Possibly by studying samples of biomass from live dragons. If he were to do such a thing, however, it won't be until farther in the future.**

 **OblivionIJ: Very funny. Yes, an entirely different Dead Man than the wrestler.**

 **Jpfcentralgmail: Keijutsu was not aware of the Devils, Angels and Fallen Angles before the start of the series, correct. There were other parts of the supernatural world that he was familiar with, though, including the existence of magic.**

 **Guest #1: Huh. I thought I did all the necessary research, but somehow I still missed that. Thank you for pointing that out; I'll see if I can't get that edited out soon.**

 **TheDoubleMan: Don't worry, I have no intention of canning the particular story of mine.**

 **HalflingRunner: Yes, writing stories of cat-and-mouse in the spirit of something like Sherlock Holmes is not something I'm used to. But I'm sure that, with time, I'll get better at it.**

 **EquippedSword99: Wow, two days? And during exam month? I would like to think the stuff I write is good, but enough for someone to binge-read like I used to do with Harry Potter fics? Damn, that's awesome. Thank you.**

 **And Reptoholic: Due to the numbered nature of your reviews, I'll be sending you my full response via PM. You should be getting it shortly.**

 **Without further ado, we begin!**

* * *

Chapter 22: Training

The room full of dead people was silent as, well, the dead. Since yesterday, Fronea had been kind enough to bring over one the whiteboards from his apartment, which Keijutsu now had tacked to the wall. On said whiteboard was a list of all the observation he made so far about the soul, which he was currently reading.

' _Let's see… So, a soul is composed of an energy similar in nature to the kind used by magic. Further, its presence is diffused across an entire living creature's body, and is slightly concentrated near its brain. The soul could act independent of the body, which means that idea of magic such as soul projection might have some merit to it. But could either the body or the soul function without each other?_ ' he thought.

That was the question he would seek to answer today. Strapped to the table was another rat he had found, while next to it was a glass jar with several magic runes for binding and containment engraved into its surface. Hopefully, if all went well, he could extract the rat's soul from its body and then place it inside the jar, where he could study it without the rat's body being in the way.

"Well, here goes nothing," he said, rolling back his sleeves and extending his hand forward.

* * *

 **Three hours later…**

"Damn it all to fire and sundering!" Keijutsu yelled, flinging his hand up in the air. In front of him, the extracted soul of the rat—which visually appeared like a mass of white smoke in the shape of a rat—dissipated into an indistinct cloud that then faded out of sight. Along with that, he could sense the presence of the soul disappearing, while the rat when limp and unresponsive. Not dead, but in a vegetative state it wouldn't recover from.

Pacing back of forth, Keijutsu hardly gave the catatonic rat any notice. "This is the sixth failure in a row! Every time I try to pull the soul out, it automatically tries to break out of my grasp, no matter how delicately in try! And once I do manage to get the damned thing completely separate, it breaks apart and loses any structure it had before!" he ranted.

Fronea, who had chosen to show up on account of having nothing better to do, added on "What's more, whenever the soul does begin to break apart once you've extracted it, it does so almost instantaneously, whether you have it inside the containment jar or not."

Kei nodded and sat down, glaring at the insensate rat. "This does mean, in all probability, that a living soul can't exist outside of a body, which flies right in the face of everything we've seen so far. If the soul and the body can't function without each other, then what do Grim Reapers harvest? How do ghosts exist? Is astral projection even real?" he said, grabbing handfuls of his hair. "It doesn't make sense!"

Fronea hummed and walked over to the table. Prodding it with one of her claws, the rat gave no response, staring dumbly at the ceiling. "Hmm… I'd honestly almost compare this to a balloon filled with air. The moment the air is extracted from the balloon it disperses and spreads out, leaving behind none of its initial structure behind while the balloon is just an empty husk," she observed.

"Exactly. Only while you can keep that same air if it's transferred directly into a sealed chamber, the soul keeps breaking down with or without being inside the jar. And it's not that the jar itself can't contain it; we've already triple-checked the runic arrays to make sure they're correct," Keijutsu said.

Neither of them had an answer, which left them with nothing to say, Eventually, once his irritation had calmed down, Keijutsu sighed and stood up. "Well, looks like it's back to the drawing board, then. And I'm starting to run out of rats."

* * *

 **Meanwhile, in the Underworld…**

"Alright, it's time for you to get started on today's exercises," a clone of Elma composed of water declared. Standing before said clone were Tomoe, Ruruko and Saji, and all four of them were next to a very large pond—almost a lake, really—of crystalline water located next to the Sitri estate.

"For your first day, we're going to be focusing on building up your endurance. Being able to hit someone hard is all well and good, but you need to be able to get as much as you give if you're going to have any hope of lasting during a fight. Because of the draining nature of nature of your Sacred Gear, Saji-san, this is less of an issue for you, but it still needs to be focused on," she said.

Tomoe raised a hand. "Um, Elma-san? Not that I disagree with anything you said, but since I'm Sona-kaichou's Knight, shouldn't I prioritize speed over endurance?" she asked.

Elma nodded. "You're partially right, Meguri-san. As a Knight, speed and skill with your sword should be your primary focuses. However, despite not being an active observer of Devils and their Rating Games, I've been around long enough to pick up a few things. Especially that I have too often seen Knights that have trained their speed to the point that they'll run circles around the enemy… and then fold like wet paper once the enemy gets a single good shot in. While you'll never be as durable as if you were a Rook, you still need to work on your endurance to mask sure that doesn't happen," she explained.

By the end of her mini lecture, both Ruruko and Saji were nodding in agreement. After a moment, so was Tomoe, seeing the logic in her decision. Not that it stopped her from asking "So, what are we doing today to help with that?"

The female dragon smiled. "I'm glad you asked," she said, before waving her trident at the three of them. A blue magic circle flashed into existence beneath each of them, but all they were able to make out was an image of crashing waves before they were enveloped in light. When it faded, their school uniforms had been replaced with blue track suits. And standing next to them were a trio of sandbags with straps.

"One of my favorite methods of increasing endurance is to use sandbags. To start, I want each of you to grab one by the straps with both hands and hold it in front of your chest," Elma instructed. The three Devils quickly did so, although she noticed that Ruruko was having the most difficult out of all of them. Not too surprising; while being a Devil in general would increase her strength beyond that of a normal human, being a Pawn did mean that said boost was the lowest it could be. "Good. Now, I want you to turn around and throw the bag forward and away from you as far as you can."

Again, the three of them did so, and Elma said "Well done. Now, go run over to the bag, pick it up, and throw it back over. That's all there is too it."

Saji blinked. "Wait. That's it? We're just picking up these bags and throwing them back and forth, over and over?" he asked. To be frank, he had expected something a bit more… he didn't know, exciting.

Suddenly, Elma's smile turned sinister. "Trust me, Saji-san, while this may seem like a simple exercise, you'll definitely begin to feel its effects after enough repetitions. And since being a Devil already pushes your stamina past that of a normal human… we'll likely be doing this for at least an hour," she said.

That was when the color drained from Saji's, Ruruko's and Tomoe's faces. An hour?! Was she serious?! Looking at the dragon, they saw that, yes, she was. And so, the three of them gulped as one. What kind of hell did Sona's sister sign them up for?

* * *

In another part of the Sitri estate, the real Elma was standing off in front of Momo, Reya, Sona and Tsubaki.

"Today, the four of you will be working on building up your magic-casting abilities. Specifically, your ability to use defensive magic. One thing that your opponents, such as the Gremory or Bael, have in common that the Sitri and Reincarnated Devils do not is that they can call forth and release large amount of magical energy at a time," she told them.

Sona nodded while suppressing a grimace. That had been a point of contention between herself and Rias for years. Anytime they would have matches as children—not actually Rating Games, just small bouts between the two of them, sometimes with Akeno and Tsubaki joining—Rias would often strike fast and strike hard, bulldozing past any traps Sona had laid out. Then, before she could mount any amount of working defense, the redhead would take her out.

From watching that Rating Game against Riser, she could see that her tactics hadn't changed much over the years. Blasting through the opposition still seemed to be her favored method of fighting, only now she had evolved somewhat to include baiting opponents into the open or striking at points they weren't expecting. But the general idea of a fast-paced brutal assault was still there.

She refocused when Elma said "However, while a blitzkrieg-esque offensive will work often, if the enemy isn't careful, they can exhaust their power and resources against the foe fairly quickly. This would leave you the chance to hit back and strike while they're scrambling to recover. But in order to reach that point, you have to whether their assault until they've exhausted themselves."

Momo blinked, muttering "It's a classic example of the tortoise and the hare…"

Elma heard it and nodded. "Exactly. And how being patient and conserving your strength can ultimately lead to victory. Now, training one's magic, whether for offense and defense, isn't as straightforward as building up physical strength. One of the best methods I've found is, at first glance, a little barbaric. Can anyone guess what it is?"

"Creating a barrier?" Reya asked.

"Exhausting ourselves and then trying to cast defense magic?" Tsubaki asked.

Sona looked at her fellow Devils, specifically that there was an even number of them. "Break off into pairs and spar with each other?"

Elma chuckled. "That last one was close, but not quite. Simply put, I'll be attacking you, and your job is to defend yourselves solely with defensive magic until I say we're done," she said, looking directly at them.

Their eyes widened, and they had just enough time for Momo to shout "Say what?!" before Elma was enveloped in light. When that light faded, her massive dragon form stood in her place, looking down at all of them with a teeth-filled grin that was downright terrifying.

" **Now, let's get started.** "

* * *

Training passed in this manner for a total of six days. Each day, Elma would change up the exercises they had to perform. There was swimming laps in one of the lakes, hours of meditation to obtain greater control over their magic, even fake Rating Games where the Student Council would break off into groups and fight each other. The sizes of said groups always changed too, which forced each of them to stay on their toes throughout.

There was also a number of team-building exercises as well, intended to help them work together better and fight as a more cohesive unit. To Elma's own surprise, however, such exercises were hardly needed—Sona had made sure that her peerage had great functionality and understood how each other fought.

Keijutsu hadn't been idle during this time either. After much testing and postulating various theories, he had finally come to the conclusion that a soul was truly incapable of existing outside of a living body under ordinary circumstances. Therefore, the only reason that the soul didn't scatter to the wind once a Grim Reaper harvested it was that the Reaper's scythe itself was able to force the soul's structure to maintain itself for a short period after death.

He had proven this by taking almost a half-dozen more rats—he estimated there were only five or so left in the whole colony he had been using—and having Undertaker reap the soul from each one, at which point he could examine its properties and take notes. By his count, the soul held together for about an hour after being reaped, at which point it broke apart as normal.

The same instances had also enabled him to take a closer look at when Undertaker took the Cinematic Records of these rats and then reattached them. Now he was sure that the Records themselves were just a physical manifestation of a being's memories, and that those memories were part of the soul.

It was on the sixth day of training, when Elma was giving lesson to the peerage as a whole about battle tactics and strategies that she had observed, that Undertaker chose to check of his captive/ally.

The silver-haired Grim Reaper found him sitting in a chair in front of his whiteboard, staring at it with an intense expression. Grinning, he snuck up behind the artificer and leaned over the back of the chair. "Shilling for your thoughts?" he loudly whispered.

To his immense disappointment, Keijutsu wasn't the least bit startled by his appearance. After being stuck there for nearly a week, it seemed, the two of them were getting used to each other. "Perhaps. I'm trying to work my way through a thought experiment regarding an idea I had," he said.

Intrigued, Undertaker stood up and pulled out a chair for himself, sitting next to and in front of him. "Oh? Do tell, maybe I can shed some light on this idea," he offered.

Keijutsu shrugged, not seeing the harm in it. "It was based off of something my familiar mentioned a few days ago. When we were discussing the problem of the soul scattering after I try to extract it from the body its in, she mentioned it being like air dissipating once it's been let out of a sealed container. Can you picture that as well?"

When Undertaker nodded, he continued "Now that has lead to a somewhat strange idea. What if, just like how a cloud of gas like air is composed of smaller particles—quarks, electrons, etc.—what if there existed something similar for a soul? Some sort of fundamental building block that they are made of which the soul possesses in large quantities. And the behavior of souls I've observed so far is just the interactions between these hypothetical particles and the environment around it?"

Undertaker frowned, thinking it over. "A particle that makes up the soul, similar the subatomic ones that compose matter…" he thought aloud. The idea was definitely one he hadn't heard before, and just picturing it had his mind turning itself into knots. "Can you elaborate?"

"Certainly. My idea follows that, if the soul is actual composed of a multitude of smaller particles—for the sake of convenience, we'll call them 'spiritrons'—then we've been looking at this issue in entirely the wrong way. If this is the case, then all the properties we attribute to the soul can be attributed to these spiritrons. Its diffused state throughout the body, its slight concentration in the region of the head, its incapability to exist cohesively outside it, even ideas such as consciousness and the formation of memories can be explained in terms of these particles," Keijutsu explained.

Undertaker was silent for a moment. "In that case, these spiritrons would be inherently unstable and decay quickly when interacting with the physical world at any time…" Underneath his bang, his eyes widened "Unless they had something they could bond with that would render them stable. Are you saying that a living body fulfills that purpose?"

"That I am. I suspect that the spiritrons bonding with the human body causes them to become rendered stable and capable of existing without decaying. Then, once they have bonded with that body in large enough quantities, consciousness begins to appear as an emergent property. It's at that point, once there are enough spiritrons within a single body that consciousness appears, that the mass of them can be considered to form a 'soul'," Keijutsu said.

"I see… In that case, in order to create a soul, all one would need to do is take a body that does not possess one and infuse it with a large number of these spiritrons, at which point they would naturally bond with it until a consciousness began to emerge within that body!" Undertaker said, beginning to smile widely as he could see how this could be used for his work in making his Bizarre Dolls truly alive. Sure, there would be the issue of exactly _how_ they would expose one of them to these spiritrons, much less how they would collect and/or gather said particles in large quantities.

Then his smile faded as he thought of something. "Then what about the Cinematic Record? If they are a property of the soul, rather than something separate, how are they formed?" he questioned.

That brought Keijutsu up short as well, and he frowned. "That's the part I was at in my thought experiment when you arrived. I can't decide which idea is more plausible: that Cinematic Records and the memories that compose them truly are a separate entity than the soul, or if the soul somehow makes and stores them before being accessed by Grim Reapers," he said.

Both of them were silent for a while, contemplating the idea. Despite both of their efforts, this was the one part of the entire theory that stymied them. How did a mass of particles that bonded with the body, and that consciousness appeared from as an emergent property, form memories?

Eventually, when both of them had been contemplating the problem for over an hour with no solution in sight, Undertaker sighed. "I think that this is as far as the two of us will get at this current stage. Unless you or I obtain some new source of inspiration, I think we're just spinning our wheels in place," he said.

Keijutsu raised an eyebrow. "What do you suggest?" he asked.

The Grim Reaper stood. "You've been working on the issue of making a soul—something I've spent centuries trying to figure out—while only stopping to rest. That shows to me that you're intent on keeping up your end of our agreement. Therefore, as promised…" he reached to his side and, with a burst of green light, his Death Scythe appeared in his hand. "I'll teleport you back to Japan if you would like."

The Artificer stared at him for a moment, before smiling. Standing, he said "I would appreciate that. It'll be good to see Sona and the others again. And who knows, being around them might give me an idea as to working through the rest of my theory as well as testing it. How will I get into contact with you if needed?"

Undertaker thought about that for a moment, before extending his free hand. With another, smaller flash of light, a silver necklace with a scythe pendant made of polished black iron appeared. "Just turn this pendant over a few times in your hand, and it will inform me that you wish to speak. Teleporting just myself or one other person hardly takes anything out of me, even over long distances, so it won't be an issue to pop over and speak," he offered.

Keijutsu gratefully accepted the pendant and placed it around his neck. "Very well. Let's be going, Undertaker," he said. Undertaker nodded and tapped his scythe against the ground. With one more flash, both of them disappeared.

* * *

 **And that takes care of this chapter. Like I said, it was shorter than I had wanted. Mind you, I already have the next chapter somewhat planned out, and I knew this one would be training and researched focused. But it was the in-between that I was hitting a wall on. The next one will involve the Young Devils meeting, Keith reuniting with the group, and maybe even some fluff between him and Sona. So look forward to that.**

 **Please review! If you flame then Bruce Lee will smash you with his nunchaku. (I'm just kidding… or am I?)**


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